Harbor Lights
by a red burn
Summary: Somewhere along the way Martin and Sam fall in love - Chapter 7 finally updated!
1. Chapter One

Title: Harbor Lights.   
  
Author: Andréa  
  
E-mail: deiab_x@hotmail.com send me a feed if you feel like it. I'll be glad to read it. And you can always review too (",)  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Category: M/S Romance.   
  
Summary: Somewhere along the way, Martin and Sam fall in love.  
  
Spoiler: Second season, though no episodes will be mentioned here.   
  
Disclaimer: None of them are mine… surprised?  
  
Author's note: First I need to say English is not my first spoken language, sorry the grammar mistakes and all, unfortunately I don't have a beta reader to right the wrongs in here, I tried to do my best... It is not going to take long to Sam and Martin get together, I'm just feeling like doing some romance… they getting together, dating and all this stuff. (Haha, never saw myself as a romantic person)  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The first time it occurred to her it was very strange, especially because she never thought it could happen, not with him. Sure she had an affair with her boss - but it was over now - and after that anything could happen, but still, it was a bit surprising and even more surprising was how strong it happened. Never in her entire life she had felt something as strongly as she did that single moment, not even with Jack, who, she thought she loved. Well, she loved him indeed, but she was certainly not IN love with, maybe so at first, when they started seeing each other, but not now, what made things completely different and changed everything, to be in love.  
  
So she knew she had never truly fallen in love.  
  
That fateful night Samantha Spade was sitting at the conference table going over some papers, studying the latest case until very late, when no one was at that unit anymore. Or that was what she thought. She was so concentrated on the papers in front of her she didn't notice that someone had entered the room and was standing beside her until this someone put a cup of warm coffee on the table right in front of her making her look up, startled. This made her eyes meet Martin's and a concerned smiled on his lips.   
  
"I thought no one was here anymore." Sam said, happily accepting the coffee and a reason to take her attention away from the task at hand for a while. And the company of course.   
  
"I had some reports to finish and wanted to do it once and for all, so I stayed more. I was leaving then I saw you here so concentrated on what you were doing that I thought some coffee would come in hand." Martin said softly taking that seat next to her.  
  
"Thanks." Samantha said as she smiled. "It really did." She took a sip of her coffee and sighed deeply its fume.   
  
"You're welcome." He replied and leaned in to look at the papers she was reading before. "Is there something I can help with?"   
  
Sam put her mug down back on the table and looked at the papers, sighing sadly as she shook her head. "I don't think so. Jack asked me to run over this and something caught my attention, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I know there's something here my mind is catching but my eyes are not following."   
  
"Why don't you go home and rest? Maybe after some sleep you'd be able to put your finger on it." He smiled echoing her own joke. "Tired you're not going anywhere." He said and this time his voice sounded more concerned.  
  
She looked up from the papers to face him and was caught by surprise at how close he was, at how close they were. She could smell his cologne mixed slightly with his own scent and this made her giddy not because it was smelly but on the contrary, it was very, very good and welcoming. Concentrate on breathing his scent, she didn't answered him, nor said anything back to his last comment, too caught up at the moment to let it go, so she stayed there, just looking at him as he did the same, his own breath caught in his throat, his lungs insisting on not working and he felt himself leaning in as she did the same.  
  
Their eyes were strongly locked and Sam suddenly felt a shiver run down her body with the anticipation of what was coming when Martin' s tongue darted out to wet his lips, making this little move seem a lot more inviting than he intended to, though the act was made unconsciously. Sam moved her eyes away from his for a brief moment to stare at his lips as he wetted them and she felt the urge to just do that for him. To take his tongue into her mouth and wet his lips with hers. And a shiver ran down through her body again.  
  
He wanted to say something, she thought, because his lips moved slightly but the words never came out and the only explication she could muster was that his brain was as numb as hers and probably frozen too, just sending the stimulation to make the adrenaline run widely as thought she was in some kind of danger, making you feel the fear, but this time it was the anticipation.  
  
They were almost there, lips almost touching, eyes almost completely close, when she had the stupidest idea she could have ever had: she turned to face him fully and as she did it she dashed the cup of coffee with her left hand in the process splashing it all over the table, braking whatever spell they were under.  
  
Startled by what happened - both the almost kiss and the coffee thing - she jumped from the chair grabbing all the papers she could from the wet table, trying to save them from the coffee deluge as she cursed a "damn it!" under her breath, using it as an excuse to get away from Martin and whatever humiliating situation that could come after.  
  
"Here, I got it." Martin said as he helped Sam to gather the papers and get them away from the table and handing them to her, making - of course- their hands brush slightly in the process and sanding yet another shiver down her body, another sparkle.   
  
"Thanks." She mumbled under her breath as she struggled with herself to take her coat out of the back of the chair and put it on with her purse and papers in her hands as she walked to the elevator, avoiding him as best as she could.  
  
All she wanted right now was the get as far away from him as possible.   
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
She couldn't sleep. Just that, simple as that.   
  
Whenever she closed her eyes the images of Martin so close to her, his lips so close to hers would pop up into her mind and she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore. The feelings were still too real, even hours after what happened. She still could smell him, feel his warm breath against her lips and she, unconsciously, brought one hand up and touched her lips with two fingers, as tough they had been really touched by Martin's lips.   
  
'What the hell is that??' She said mentally, or better, she screamed mentally, the words echoing inside her head. 'What's all that?' Her mind whispered this time, not wanting to wake her mouth because she was not feeling like having a discussion between her head and mouth - her brain and heart. She knew very well how that ended, someone always got hurt in the end. It was just a moment they had there. Just that. But why couldn't she stop thinking about him? And anyway, she was just feeling fragile, weak, depressed because the case and the only thing that happens when your walls are down is exactly the thing you don't want to happen.  
  
But whoever said Samantha didn't want them to kiss?  
  
She sighed loudly and got out of bed, she knew wouldn't sleep anymore as hard as she tried to, so she went to the living room and turned the tv on. Maybe she could take her mind away from Martin for a while.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
Next morning Sam woke up with the incessant sound of the ring of the telephone and opening her eyes slowly she found herself laid on the couch, the tv buzzing without any image on the screen. She brought her hand to the coffee table and reached the cordless phone, till startled and feeling a little out of place. Maybe because when she finally got to sleep it had happened on the couch and her dreams were full of Martin.   
  
Shaking the thoughts of the dream out of her head, she brought the phone to her ear and answered it. "Hello?" She said, her voice sounding sleepy.  
  
"Sam, we've got a situation." Jack said, his voice low and she barely could hear it behind all the other voices and the police sirens plus all the other loud noises on the background and she believed he was already at the site of the crime.  
  
As she got up and walked to her room to change, she asked, "What happened?" She felt a chill run down her body and froze, the hand on the closet knob glued to it as the jolt of dread ran through the bones of her spine following the previous chill. She knew what was coming from the way Jack's voice sounded and she prayed, knowing it'd be in vain, for god to change whatever Jack was going to say, to give them a little more time.   
  
"We found Kathleen." He said, his voice sounding pitiful and lamentable. She knew that in cases like this it was impossible to be impersonal especially for Sam, who was very emotional, and couldn't help but get too involved in the cases. "She's dead." He sighed sadly. "She was stabbed and possibly raped by her neighbor. A witness saw him taking the body out of the house and called the cops."   
  
Sam fought back the tears as hard as she could but they were just too much and her eyes were hurting and stinging and she could do nothing but let them fall. If she turned just a bit and looked at the mirror she would see a ghostly Samantha, she knew that and it was part of why she didn't move and other reason was that she couldn't. Her entire body was froze and numb including her mouth because she didn't say anything back at Jack, making him speak again.  
  
"I'm sorry." He said for the lack of better words, if there were better words, and he just couldn't think of any other better thing to say, so he waited her response.  
  
"We can't always win." She tried to keep her voice steady, really tried, but failed miserably; she knew that when Jack's next word came, hell she had heard her own vice creaking and noticed the teary sound.  
  
"Sam…" He started wanting to comfort her somehow.  
  
"I've got to go." She cut him off, not wanting to hear his lames attempts to comfort her and not wanting him to know how bad she felt, how miserable and useless she felt that moment, so she just hung up before he could say anything else.  
  
She threw the telephone on the bed and as if her body was made from that same stuff cloth dolls were made of, she sank in the floor, her back sliding along the cold and hard wall as she let the tears drop freely. She should be impersonal, damn it! She was Samantha Spade for God's sake! She shouldn't be so emotive about this case, but how could she stop this? How could she, if because of a 13 year old girl, she had been so emotive?  
  
She brought her knees to her chest and tried not to think about the 5 years old little girl who had been cold murdered by someone she and her family trusted. 5 years old. How could someone rape and kill a little girl? How someone have the courage? She couldn't stop thinking about the picture of the girl, a blond little girl with two high pig tales, smiling happily at the camera, holding a blue butterfly in her left open hand, as if she had discovered the seventh wonder of the world. Sam couldn't stop thinking about how much pain the girl must have suffered, how scared she must have been, and how useless Sam was for not being able to help her.   
  
If they had just a little more time… They were so close.  
  
She hated when the cases ended like that, the victim murdered or not found again. 'We can't always win' Sam heard her own words echoing in her head, wishing - not for the first and obviously not for the last time - she was wrong, that they could always win, they could always find the victim and deliver them safely to their parents or relatives and go home knowing you did the right thing, you helped someone who needed your help and you were able to do it. But this didn't happen nevertheless. And the hardest part was to tell the family they had found the missing person dead. To keep a straight face and be impersonal and not emotive when, inside you were falling apart, crying your heart out and suffering just like the family. Not suffering for the same reasons, suffering because you couldn't safe them, for seeing how bad the world was, for seeing how much pain that family was feeling because you wasn't able to help them. Then you felt useless.  
  
Samantha forced herself to stop crying and as the tears stopped falling she wiped them away from her wet face and sighed deeply before getting up and opening her closet. She had things to do now, reports to fill, a job to do and her emotions could be left aside. She had to go to the FBI and do what she hated most: tell the family the case was closed.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
"I hate this." She murmured to herself as her hands worked on small circles massaging her head on both sides, the headache that had started a couple hours ago was kicking her ass now.   
  
She had spoken with Jamie and Robert Russell, Kathleen's parents, what was somewhat hard. She wasn't able to stop the couple of tears that dropped from her eyes when Jamie Russell broke down after hearing her only child was dead and Sam had to leave the room, nothing being able to hold herself together anymore and not wanting anyone to see it.   
  
"You did a good job." Martin said softly as he stepped in front of her desk.   
  
"I didn't." She replied without looking up from her report papers, knowing very well who was the owner of the voice was. Always caring and concerned. She hadn't seen him since she arrived and concerned with the case she hadn't thought about him until then, when that scent of his reached her nostrils, making all the memories of the previously day come rushing to her head, sending delicious shivers down her body, what she dismissed quickly with a shake of her head.  
  
"Sam…"   
  
"If I had," she cut him off, her voice dangerously threatening to break, as she got up to stay at eye level with him, this time looking in his eyes but regretting it when the butterflies decided that was a good time to start flying and looked down, thinking that maybe they would stop their wild flight and focused on her words and on keeping her voice steady. "If I had than the girl would be alive." She muttered as if she was speaking to more herself than to anyone else, as if she was trying to believe that.   
  
"Sam, don't do this." His voice was firm and slightly, just slightly harsh. "Don't blame yourself. You know as well as any of us that we can't save everyone. For as much as we want it and we try it, we can't save them all." The last words came out softly and somehow strangely soothing.   
  
She kept her eyes down, not daring to look at him and see his eyes, afraid of what she could see there and she didn't want him to see how fragile she felt that moment, nor the way her eyes were beginning to shine with tears. She tried to blink them away, keep her cool, to stay focused on blaming herself, on saying how much useless she had been, that because she didn't work hard enough a child was dead. Suddenly, before she could stop herself, a sob escaped her lips. She prayed Martin hadn't heard it, but she knew he had and ashamed she brought both hands to her face, covering it. "Oh God" she whispered.   
  
All Martin wanted was to put his arms around her and make it all go away, make her understand it wasn't her fault, that there wasn't anything she could have done, but somehow he couldn't say the words, couldn't get them out nor embrace her like he wanted, so he just put a soft hand on her shoulder. "Sam…"   
  
"Don't" she stepped away from him, from his touch, the warm sensation it caused - not too much, just enough to get his hand off of her - and crossed her arms on a defensive position, a way to disguise her vulnerability.   
  
"Samantha, stop it, ok?" He scolded and put a hand on her shoulder again and squeezed it softly. The tears that had fallen from her eyes while she was covering her face with her hands wetted her cheeks and made her eyes redden. He knew how much she hated to look weak and how much she probably was cursing herself for crying in front of someone and how ashamed she felt, he was sure of that seeing how hard she was trying to avoid his eyes. "Let's get out of here." He said already pulling her. "It's lunch time. I'll take you somewhere and if you want to talk, we'll talk but if you don't want to then we'll just eat." He smiled ensuring her, searching for her eyes. "Ok?"   
  
Samantha sighed deeply and nodded, then trying not to stay too far away from his warm touch - a thought completely different from the previously one - she grabbed her jacket from behind the chair and put it on.  
  
Martin's hand had been away while she did it and as soon as her jacket was on his hand went back to her body, but on her back between her shoulder blades instead and Sam felt as thought she had just been burnt and if it wasn't for that feeling being good she would have probably jerked away with the impact of his touch, but she knew better and stayed cool, letting that warmth travel through her whole body, making the butterflies in her stomach wake up and fly again. She let him guide her out of the building while her mind - which usually was the boss - screaming to her to get away, but hey, bosses were always a pain in the ass, right?   
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
The drive was silent, no words were spoken from both sides since they left the Bureau and it seemed no one would speak anytime soon, making a quiet spell fell upon them - what was kind of strange for two people who talked a lot - but the silence wasn't discomfort, not at all, on the contrary, it was welcoming and comfy, even more to Samantha because this way she could just savor on the company beside her, her mind completely focused on him and his features. She would get entranced staring at his biceps as he changed the gears or as he turned a corner, making his arms twist and his muscle be more visible under his folded up to the elbow sleeve, he had taken off his coat and folded up his white shirtsleeve. She could look at his face and see how concentrated he would get looking out at the road, and thought if he was this concentrated when doing others things. She looked away quickly before it got too suspicious as she flushed furiously with the thought that had just came to her mind.   
  
And she couldn't do any of this if they were talking.  
  
Finally the drive came to a stop as Martin pulled up on a curb in front of a small restaurant he obviously knew. It seemed nice from outside and if he had brought her here so the place was probably be nice in the inside too.   
  
"You coming, Spade?" she looked up puzzled to the driver's side and was surprised to find it empty and even more surprised to see Martin outside her window, when she looked around for him.  
  
When she assured him with a smile as she got out, it was more to herself at how silly she was being. "Gee, never saw you leaving."   
  
Martin grinned playfully at her. "I noticed." He said then, his playfully voice matching his grin.   
  
Sam rolled her eyes and tried hard not to smile but it was impossible by seeing his childish behavior and how he was enjoying her company - she could tell, she could feel it - and bugging her, he always enjoyed bugging her and soon she felt the corners of her mouth turning up followed by a silly smile. She was feeling weirdly happy.  
  
"What's that?" He said faking surprised as his hand came up, a finger pointing to her mouth.  
  
"Stop it." She said seriously, or tried because the smile didn't leave her face and slapped his finger away. She heard Martin chuckling silently as they walked the short path to the restaurant door. "Stop it." She repeated.  
  
"I didn't do anything." He tried to defense himself, but not really wanting to show his point, what mattered at the moment was to cheer her up. He opened the door and let her enter first them followed Samantha inside.  
  
"Moron." He heard her saying as they walked to the balcony and he could hear her own chuckle in her voice too.  
  
"I heard that." He pretended to be hurt what seemed even more faked since a smile was playing on his lips.  
  
"I said it out loud."   
  
He looked at her in disbelief. "I'm hurt." He tried to sound chocked and could see her thinking on an answer, what was pretty quick and he actually feared what she was going to say but her was saved when a waitress came up to them.   
  
"Two?"   
  
"What?" Martin as ked as both him and Sam looked at the girl. Neither of them had seen her approaching and were startled when she spoke.  
  
"Table for two?" She asked again, her eyes going from Martin to Sam and back to Martin.  
  
"Oh yeah, two." He said and shrugged as he looked at Sam.  
  
The girl smiled and turned around. "Follow me." She said and brought Sam and Martin to a table beside a window then gave a menu to each of them and left.  
  
Sam sat across from Martin and opened her menu. She started reading through it but soon her attention was focused on scanning the place she was in, looking around the small, though very comfy, restaurant. The lights were dim in there and a soft melody was playing in the background, making it seems as thought they were having dinner late at night somewhere fancy and she felt the weird sensation they were having a date, what actually was true, but… but it wasn't REALLY a date, they were just hanging out and… her head started screaming for her to get out of here, but she didn't want to obey, she wouldn't, she was having a good time and enjoying the company.  
  
"Sam?" Martin's voice brought her back to reality and she looked at his worried face. "You ok?"   
  
She smiled to herself and at him. She felt so at easy with him, she forgot everything when he was with her. Hell, she forgot her own name just by looking at his smile, so what was the problem if they were having a date? And depending on how things went, she decided, she would ask him out, for real this time. "I'm great." She said smiling. "I'm great."   
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
"Thanks." Sam said as Martin parked the car in an empty space at the FBI parking lot.  
  
Martin turned the engine off and turned to look at her. "For what?"   
  
She shrugged and suddenly her nails were an interesting spot to look at. "For everything." She sighed and looked up again at his piercing eyes, which were searching desperately for hers. "You know, I didn't think about the case one single moment while we were lunching." She said, her voice so small and helpless that it almost broke him and he only could imagine how much broken herself was feeling. He couldn't stop himself as his hand made its way to her shoulder and squeezed it softly.  
  
It was true. She hadn't thought about Kathleen once since she had first entered the car. She was so focused on thinking and staring at him that she hadn't the time for sad thoughts. And she just realized that, that was what Martin was, happiness. Happy thoughts, good feelings, warm sensations, it was all she felt when she was with him, he made her forget about all the craziness and the badness of the world out there, and as he touched her again, all the things she had felt when he had touched her before, she felt again. Her stomach twisted with nervousness and she felt fire where his hand was - she was feeling like he was her first crush - and she caught herself staring at his lips, wondering if his kiss would make her feel the way his touches made, or if it was better.  
  
He tilted his head slightly to the side and smiled that kind of boyish smile, as if asking her if she was all right at the same time he made sure she was, all the while his hand running up and down her upper arm softly. She believed he was waiting for an answer so she smiled back, hoping it was enough and when she looked at his face and bright eyes she knew it was and noticed his face softening - if it was possible it could be more soft than already was - when he made sure she was fine, his eyes turning from light black to their greenly blue and his smile turning to a relieved grin.   
  
'Oh God, I love him' she thought dreamily unaware of it as she looked in his eyes, watching every change in his features and all of a sudden the words she thought finally sank in and registered, the smile she had on her face faded into a fall of jaw as it fell open and her eyes opened wide, her breath became heavier. "I gotta go." She rushed the words out while opening the door and getting out, away from him and from his touch.  
  
"Sam, what's wrong?" She heard him shouting.  
  
"Nothing." She yelled back. "I'm fine." And hurried to the elevators hoping she could get into one of them before Martin could caught up with her.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
How did this happen? How could it possibly happen? Samantha replied these words in her head over and over as she headed to her desk and sat heavily in her chair after taking her jacket off and put it on the back of the chair. Martin hadn't followed her and part of her already shaken heart saddened because of it, this particular part wanted him to run after her, grab her and kiss her like no one have never done before and the other part was glad he didn't. all she wanted right now was to be alone for a while.   
  
'How did this happen?' Sam wondered again and hit her forehead on the flat surface of the table with a loud thud just when Danny was passing by.  
  
"You ok?" He asked gently and curiously.  
  
Sam looked up to meet his gaze, curious and questioning, totally different from Martin's, she couldn't help noticing. Martin's gazes were always full of worry and concern and she couldn't stop noticing the caring inside of them, one of the things she loved about him. She groaned loudly realizing what she had thought and focused again on Danny and mumbled a "just fine" before he could ask again.   
  
"You sure?"   
  
"I'm sure." Sam said a bit harsher than she wanted, almost cutting him off and gave him a subtle glare, a warning saying 'ask again and you're dead.' Danny shrugged and left, knowing that there was nothing more e could do, that made Sam roll her eyes before hitting her forehead on the table again.   
  
'What's the damn problem??' she heard the little voice inside her head asking. 'What's the problem if it's Martin? Isn't better than someone else? Someone MARRIED?' She could here the sneer in her conscience's voice, could your conscience sneer? She asked herself and believed so because she could feel the mocking and it was true anyway, why couldn't it be Martin? He was wonderful, he was always kind and soft and gentle. Was always trying to cheer her up to make her believe everything would be all right. Was always ready to help her through some difficult situation, was always there for her. So why couldn't it be him?  
  
When the 'ding' of the elevator made Sam look up, she saw Martin entering the bullpen, just by the sight of him her belly started twisting and butterflies began to fly. She noticed Martin searching the room and she thought he was looking for her and was right, she knew that when their eyes met for a brief moment, making her blush slightly, not knowing why. But one thing she knew for sure, the signs were all there, the butterflies, the fire, the shivers and the flushing.  
  
She was in love with him, she was sure of that as she watched him walk to his own desk, a smile playing on her lips.  
  
She loved him and she was happy for that.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
End of chapter one. I know I said it wouldn't have mentions of any episodes here, but it did and I don't remember the name of it, the one that 13 year old girl was kidnapped by the weird man with glasses. ::shrug:: I don't remember really... 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
E-mail: deiab_x@hotmail.com if you feel like it, send me a feed, I'll be glad to read it =] and you can always review too.  
  
Spoiler: There will be mentions of 'The Bus' and 'Our Sons and Daughters' in this chapter. I know most people have already seen them but some people aren't as luck as us and haven't seen them yet. To those people who haven't, I'll pray for you. ;] (I live in Brazil and fortunately here we are only two episodes behind!)  
  
Disclaimer: They are all property of someone other than me. Don't sue me, you'll end up losing coz I don't have any money.   
  
Author's note: First, I need to thank Alyssa for her help, she's beta-ing this history for me. Thank you Alyssa! I'm so glad you guys like it. Thank you all the reviews, they really cheer me up! Clo, I don't speak French, however, I understood what you meant, thanks for your review. I was reading a fanfic (Moving On) and found similar things in my fanfic and I swear I didn't copy it! I had this chapter done before I read the fanfic. It was all mere coincidence. I'd have posted it before but my computer needed a 'check up' and I was without it for the past two days . . .   
  
I know nothing about Samantha Spade's past and her relationship with her mother. Anything written in here is mere presumption and if you know something I don't then feel free to correct me, I'll appreciate that. J/S implied in this chapter. There is nothing graphic, only thoughts. I believe Martin and Sam will kiss in this chapter, I am not sure though, we'll see how my imagination is going.  
  
Also a random note (I promise is the last one) did you guys know Sam and Martin will get together on the show? I read it somewhere, they said it'll be kind of a love triangle, but I hope Sam and Martin work it out and their romance lasts. It'll happen around third season (I think) so this means we'll have another one. Yay!!   
  
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - By the person who put it on the shirt I bought this week. ^_~  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
She wouldn't have the time to think for the rest of the day. As soon as Martin had sat at his desk, Jack arrived, already calling everyone and showing a picture of a dark blond girl, 16 years old who hadn't made it home after coming from school. That was all Sam knew because she was so out in space she didn't pay attention to Jack's words and several times she drifted off from his voice, thinking about Martin. The time she finally forced herself to focus on the task at hand was when Jack had called her a few times before Sam heard him.  
  
She looked at Jack to meet his concerned gaze and mumbled a 'sorry' then asked him to repeat. As she listened she could feel eyes on her and looked around to see Viv and Danny looking weirdly at her and Martin's worried gaze, which was screaming 'are you ok?', he was the only one who hadn't averted her eyes or was looking at her like she was feeling ill or something.  
  
"Danny," Jack spoke up, getting Sam's attention again. "I want you to go speak with Casey Anderson." Oh yeah, the girl who last saw Jessica, the missing girl, Sam remembered that. She had heard it vaguely. "Viv, you and I are going to speak with some people from school." And finally he looked at Sam, what made her foreseen what was coming. "Sam, you and Martin go talk to the parents." He knew how good Sam was speaking with people and how she was able to handle Martin, since he almost always got himself into some kind of trouble or crossed the lines that shouldn't be crossed.  
  
She opened her mouth to speak, to ask him to trade partners - the last thing she needed was to be with Martin - but she never spoke a word since everyone was already leaving. She looked down and sighed heavily, just wanting this day to end, she just needed some time to think about what to do and with Martin with her it would be pretty difficult.  
  
"Seems you're stuck with me," Martin said as he walked by her.  
  
Casting a quickly look at Martin as she rose, she saw he was already leaving. He walked past her half expecting her to come along and wasn't disappointed when she finally stood and joined him but perceptively distant, as in mind as in body, something that didn't pass by him unnoticed, which made him wonder.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
From the FBI to the Danes' residence - the parents of the missing teenager - no one spoke a single word. Sam didn't feel like talking and thought Martin sensed it because he didn't make any attempt to do small talk - putting them under a weird silence, very different from the one shared earlier, in the ride to the restaurant, when the silence was welcoming. Now it was discomforting and too much tension was felt. This time Samantha didn't dare to look at him nor stare at his features, wondering how handsome he was. Instead she kept looking at the road ahead of her.  
  
When they had finally arrived at Danes', Sam thanked god silently for that, the tension inside the car was already too thick for her to bear. Now she got to talk with the parents and had it as an excuse not to talk with him because as confused as she was right now she could say something that she would regret later or something that would make him feel bad for no reason.  
  
She needed to think first then talk to him after that, but hadn't had enough time to do so, or had she? She loved him, end of history, shouldn't it be this way? But it wasn't that easy. After the wicked voice in her head - the one which always bugged you - told her silently 'what if he doesn't love you? Would you be willing to threaten a great friendship?' Sam had started to worry, because it was true. She didn't know if she could get a 'no' answer. She wasn't sure of what he would do. Weren't all the touches, the soft words, the concerned and caring glances supposed to be some kind of sign of what he felt? Could he be such a good actor or was she simply misreading his true feelings? And . . . darn! How could she think straight if all she could focus was the joy she felt just by being next to him?  
  
Now they were sitting in the living room, waiting peacefully for Mr. Danes to bring his wife downstairs to talk to them. Sam knew very well how hard it was to the parents - especially to the mother - to face the fact that their child was someplace they knew not, where they couldn't take care of them, and the worst was not knowing if they were still alive. They had been through this situation way too many times - not the missing someone part, of course, but having to talk to the parents and see how hurt they were. But that was a good thing about it though; she hadn't to think about herself for a while. As devilish as it might sound it was true. But she shouldn't rejoice with someone else's problem though.  
  
The interview was as usual, the same repetitive questions like:  
  
'Do you or your child have any enemies?'  
  
'Do you know of someone who would want to harm your family?'  
  
'Did you notice anything strange or out of ordinary lately?'  
  
'Was your kid acting strangely?'  
  
And so on, and as usual the answers never helped, most of the times they didn't, the parents always ended up saying nothing wrong happened. Every time a teenager kid was missing, rarely the parents could be of any help for they were oblivious of their child's life and whereabouts outside the home. Just like that girl, Jennifer, who used to go to those parties after school, which turned out to be orgies. She was only sixteen and going to orgies. And her parents had no idea what she was doing and got a boy killed unfairly.  
  
"We'll do whatever within our power to find her, Mrs. Danes." Sam said sympathetically when the young woman - too young to have a 16-year-old girl, Sam thought - started to cry.  
  
"Thank you." The young woman said faintly. "I really…" she started but was cut off by another voice.  
  
"Mommy, what's wrong?" They all turned when a young voice reached them in the room and saw the young owner of it stepping inside - who had obviously just entered the house - with a puzzled look on her face.  
  
"Hi." Sam said first, smiling to the young girl, who had no idea of what was happening, and looked back to the elder Danes, a questioning look on her face.  
  
"Oh," Mr. Danes said first, his wife too busy trying to wipe the tears away to say anything. "This is Carolyn, our younger daughter. She's eleven."  
  
"Daddy, what's happening?" The confused child looked from her parents to the strangers in her house. "You called Grace's telling me to come right away, what's wrong?"  
  
"Sir, I'm sorry but I believe you know we need to ask her a few questions." Martin finally spoke, looking at Mr. Danes, waiting for his permission and at his nod, Martin mentioned for Carolyn to sit, which she did without resistance.  
  
Sam, who was blessed with the skill of talking with people, spoke first, her sweet way of dealing with children, making everything easy. Martin always wondered how she could get through someone and make them open up like they have known each other for years. The girl said everything she knew - as tears formed in her eyes and dropped to her cheeks. But just like her parents, she wasn't of much help either and soon the agents were upstairs looking around Jessica's belongings, in search of something helpful.  
  
Sam was looking in the girl's desk, where her computer laid silently - and told the parents they'd have to bring the computer to the FBI to deep inspection of something that could help - when her eyes met a framed picture of three teenagers girls, probably the same age, one of which was Jessica, holding each other and smiling happily to the camera. She brought it up to look at it more closely, remembering of when she herself was a teenager, and used to hang out with her two best friends, which were so different from each other but so much alike at the same time.  
  
Memories of when they were having fun together were one of the things that made her forget her painful past, the times they shared was one of the things that made her past less painful.  
  
"Sam?"  
  
She heard him calling, and like always his voice was held such concern and caring that amazed her, what made her want to cry when she realized at that very moment that Martin was one of the reasons that made her present life less painful. He would be one of the memories she would hang on to in the future to make this part right now worth living. She loved him and finally realized that that was all that mattered in the whole world. "Yeah?" she replied without looking at him, worried he would see, what she just thought, in her eyes.  
  
"Are we done here?" She noticed he quickly changed his mind of what he was going to ask: 'are you ok?' or something like that. He changed the words but the meaning behind them stayed the same.  
  
"Yes." She said firmly with a nod hoping he would understand too and when he gave her a small nod matched with a small smile she knew he had. She followed him downstairs and exchanged their good byes with the family before leaving, each one hoping they'd be seeing the other again really soon and hopefully for the last time.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
"Are you mad at me or something?" he asked her so quietly and with such an innocence she wanted to kick herself for making him feel bad. In spite of the situation his voice was soft and Sam could hear the slight hurt in it. She wanted to kick herself again. He was probably blaming himself for her behavior, trying to discover what he had done to cause her sudden quiet attitude.  
  
"No!" She shook her head, wanting desperately to touch him, to tell him everything she felt and make all his doubts go away. "It's not you fault. It's just . . ." She sighed and looked quickly at him, trying to find the right words, the right thing to say. "The last couple of days have been particularly hard and exhausting. I just have a lot of thinking to do and no time to do it." She said and truly hoped it was enough, that he would understand and let it go.  
  
A few seconds of silence later - Sam was sure it were only a few seconds - passed without any word until Martin spoke up again, his voice as soft as it was before. "You noticed it too?" His voice so small and afraid of what himself was saying, they barely made it out of his mouth.  
  
Her head snapped up to look at him, Sam completely surprised by his words. Although she was totally startled she understood the real meaning behind those words, half happy he actually felt it too, half scared to death of what would come next. She gave him a small nod. "Yes." She had to be honest, it was all she had been thinking about and lying to him was out of question. "I did."  
  
He nodded too and said nothing else, words not needed at that very moment, and both knew that, they remained quiet for the rest of the ride.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
As Sam opened her door and stepped inside her apartment, she thought how wonderful it was to finally be home and that was the very fist time she thought something like that. She had never really wanted to be at home. The longing to be working, doing something out there was much stronger than the longing to go back to her empty and cold apartment. It was comfy and comfortable, of course, it was her home after all, but when she was depressed even the best place in the world was the worst to be. Even being her home, it still was empty and the only thing she had there were her own shadows to company.  
  
She threw her keys on the living room table and took her coat off as she walked to her bedroom, passing by some of the few pictures she had from her not so far away past, hanging on the wall. She stopped, her coat hanging only by part of the collar in her hand, to admire a photo of her and her mother, probably the only one. A smile - one of the few true smiles she managed to give, though she was only five year old and the world was still a wonder to be discovered - playing on her lips, showing the camera how happy she was while her mother embraced her and had a smile of her own.  
  
Unfortunately happy memories were something she had not the luck to have a grand amount of. As she was growing up her life was becoming less and less pleasant, she didn't know why it occurred, what exactly happened to her family to make them fall apart because the impact of what was happening only hit her when she tried to run away but was caught by her mother at the bus stop, a look on her face that Sam would never forget. The walk back home was silently, the most unpleasant silence she had presented in her life till that moment and that was the reason she started to wonder, searching inside her head what had happened.  
  
Shaking her head to shush these depressing thoughts, she resumed the walk to her bedroom. The day had been exhausting, not something of much surprise, it was rare when a day at the FBI was a calm one. She had been working there for quite a while now but it still surprised her at how many people went missing every day; and if her mother hadn't found her at the bus stop she would be in the enormous never found part of the population. If she hadn't, Sam thought sternly, what she believed at that time that it would happen. She thought her mother didn't care enough to even come after her.  
  
But if her mother hadn't found her, than she would never have gotten into the FBI - for she wouldn't have the money to pay for a college education or any money to be honest - and consequently never met Martin. So, in one way or another, her mother was part cause of her present state of bliss. She could have never thought, in her younger days, her mother would possibly cause her any happiness than the pain she was causing then.  
  
Thinking of Martin, somehow, made things easier. As he was the topic of the moment, thinking about unpleasant things were easy as long as he was somewhere for her, close enough she could hang on to him, thought, deep she knew, no matter where he was she could count on him, no matter how far away she was he would be were she needed him to be, when she needed him to be.  
  
This thought brought a smile to her lips and a feeling of unfamiliar relief. It was a bit strange she could feel that way towards someone, being independent as she was, making everyone believe she could take care of everything alone without the help of people who was only doing this out of pity. That was what she thought. Martin's help wasn't out of pity; when he did this he was being Martin, truly him. And the thought that she might need him in any way frightened her a bit because since she left her mother's house she promised herself she would never need anyone, or she would try as best as she could.  
  
She wouldn't be able to keep this promise. She was young when she made it and too hurt to put it behind her. But she wasn't a child anymore and she knew that love was your worst insecurity, but yet, was the only thing that would give you strength enough to keep going. She felt with Martin what she hadn't felt with Jack. What she hadn't felt with anyone before.  
  
With Jack she couldn't express her love the way she wanted to - or what she thought was love - because they always had to meet at dark motel rooms, steal glances and looks and never let their guard down for someone could notice and catch them. This wasn't what she wanted her life to be. Deep down she knew she would never have him but she kept hanging on to the idea that one day he would be only hers, though he had already a family. She was tired of living like that, always looking back as she walked the other way, never could smile at him in public or touch him or say something without thinking very hard about what she was going to say. She was thinking about ending their sinned affair but Jack was quicker and did it for her.  
  
Now, with Martin, it was completely different. It was like she had gotten out of the darkness to step out into the light. Touches and looks were allowed; she would have to hide nothing from any body, she no longer would have to go to hidden and dark motels. With Jack she loved the idea of being in love but with Martin, she loved him and was in love with him.  
  
Samantha sat on her bed and took her shoes off, throwing them somewhere near the closet door, where two other pairs of shoes were discarded sometime before saying to herself she would put them away later and had forgotten about it, and now the new pair joined would probably have the same fate until Sam decided it was time to put them in their places. She debated for a few seconds on which pajamas wear and when she had decided, she started a battle inside herself whether to get up to put them on or stay on the bed for a little longer. It was rather difficult choosing. She noticed both beholding the fair battle, both sides possessing equal strength. Waiting to see which side would win she leaned back to rest her back on the bed, but what her clothed back touched was something hard instead of the softness of her mattress.  
  
She got up again and turned to see what her back had made contact with and saw her discarded telephone, which she had threw on the bed early that day, after Jack's call. She took the cold object in her hand and considered her options of what to do with it. It would be a simple choice had her mind not had so many things in it that moment. She considered just putting it in its place or making a good use of the weapon she had in hands. That was quite strong word to a simple telephone, but to Samantha, the results of its use would be the same as if she had used a powerful weapon.  
  
She laid the telephone on the bed, right in front of her and stared at it as if that small, mute and inanimate object would give her the right answer like a magic ball. Crossing her legs in Indian style she took the phone in her hands again and, as she sighed, she pushed the speed dial quickly fighting back the thought of hanging up and going sleep. Though the strength to do that was really big, she kept her Samantha Spade perseverance and brought the phone to her ear, listening to it calling.  
  
She tapped her knee slightly, remembering a song long ago she had heard, trying to stay calm and focusing on what she was going to say. She widened her eyes as realization hit her. What was she going to say? She couldn't just call and not know what to say or the reason she was calling. Martin would want to know why she was calling, wouldn't he?  
  
As quickly as she had dialed his number she hung up the phone and put it harshly in front of her. "You could have warned me!" She mumbled to the phone almost believing it could hear her. "Damn." What to say? What to say . . .  
  
She tapped her fingers on her knee again. It wasn't so hard, she just have to make up an excuse to call him and there were a lot of good excuses she could use, she just wanted to hear his voice, even for a few minutes. If she wanted to hear him, it needn't to be on the phone right? He had called her to have a drink once and she used it as a rain check, what came very in hand later, just when she needed a friend the most. She could use it again, call him and ask if he wanted to have a drink.  
  
She looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw it was only seven, not too late to call. She would call, they would set a place, they would meet at this place, drink, talk and each one would go to their perspective homes. Simple.  
  
What if he says no? Damn that little wicked voice in the bottom of your head.  
  
But what if he said no? What would she do? She bit her inner cheek, thinking about how humiliated and how sad she would get. This brought another thought in her head; what if he had plans for tonight already? What if he had a date? What if . . . but wait! He wouldn't have a date if what he said inside the car was true, nor would he say no. There was no reason for that.  
  
Sam took the phone again and dialed quickly before she could change her mind. As the rings came and went she started to feel more nervous, wondering where he was, what he was doing, with whom . . . "Hello?"  
  
She almost jumped out of the bed, startled by his voice, suddenly coming back completely to earth again. He was home after all. "Hmm, hi, Martin?"  
  
"Oh, hi Sam," he sounded disturbed and curious and she thought it was because he wanted to know why she was calling.  
  
"I was home and thinking…" She bit her lower lip and used the other hand to wipe the sweat that was forming on her forehead away. She was as nervous as a schoolgirl talking to her first crush. She sighed and chuckled silently. She was so silly that it startled her. "I was just thinking if maybe you would want to have drink tonight." Please say yes. She prayed silently, crossing her fingers, asking God to allow this suffering moment to pass quickly, with him saying yes.  
  
"Sure. What time?"  
  
She breathed out a sigh of relief, thank you god. Now she knew there was a good god somewhere. "About . . . half an hour sound good?"  
  
"Perfect, at the same place as the last time?"  
  
The question caught her by surprise. She was so focused that he would say no she hadn't thought about a place or what time or anything. Maybe it was a sign he had said the same place the last time and she remembered how good it had went. "Sounds good," she answered and was sure he could feel the smile on her lips.  
  
"Ok. See you then."  
  
"See you." She replied and hung up, her heart pounding considerably slower and weighing much less. She laid back and looked up at the ceiling after putting the telephone away, focusing on the adorned plaster. "Thank you god," she said softly and got up to change before she got too late to do anything than put her shoes back on.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
End of chapter two. I'm sorry, I know I said they'd kiss in this chapter but I didn't get where I want to. I know exactly where, how, and why they will kiss; I just need to get them there. I guess it'll be in the next chapter, but don't kill me if this doesn't happen and don't forget your reviews. I love them!  
  
I re-posted this chapter coz there was a few mistakes and Alyssa (my brand new beta reader) helped me to right this. 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
E-mail: deiab_x@hotmail.com if you feel like it, send me a feed, I'll be glad to read it =] and you can always review too (",)  
  
Spoiler: Mentions of 'Fallout' and a small mention of 'Confidence'. (I don't even have sure if someone'll find it...)   
  
Disclaimer: None of them are mine. I only own this marvelous show inside my troubled mind.  
  
Author's note: I know I said in the first chapter it wouldn't take long for Sam and Martin get together, but as I was writing I changed my mind and wrote something completely different from what I wanted at first. I truly hope this will finally happen in this chapter.   
  
You guys are so right, there aren't enough M/S fanfics out there and it's a shame! Why do people want Jack and Sam togehter? I mean, he's married...  
  
Thank you all the reviews, they're really wonderful and bring a smile to my lips every time I read them. I'm so glad you guys are liking it, this is my first wat fanfic and all the good reviews make me feel glad. Clo, not a prob about the French :], SunReyes, I know it's just a drink, but as confused as she was she couldn't just ask him out like that, could she? Don't worry, she'll have someone to comfort her a LOT later ^_~. Gisela, from Brazil? This is cool! Where are you from?   
  
Thanks Alyssa for your beta reading job (",) you're helping a lot.   
  
Now, no more from me...   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The bell tinkled softly as the new costumers opened the door to enter the small bookstore, making the young brunette girl behind the counter look up from the book she was reading and see the couple socially clad walking towards her. She smiled sweetly, the way she always did to earn the costumers sympathy, as she said, "Can I help you?"  
  
Sam who was looking around the small place - it seemed like a particular bookstore, one the young owner had opened with the small amount of money she had earned after school graduation. Smelling the suave scent of old books and incense, she spoke first, "Are you Arleen Simpson?"  
  
The light on the girl's face caused by her shining smile faded away and a frown took possession of her features making a worried mask fell over it. "Yes, it's me."  
  
As if they had rehearsed, they took their badges out of their pockets in such a choreographed synchrony and showed it to the girl, the big FBI tag, giving her the same effect it did to almost everyone. "We're from the Missing Persons Unit and we need to ask you a few questions about Jessica Danes' disappearance." Martin did the job of explaining the reason of their surprise visit as both he and Sam put their badges inside their pockets again.  
  
If she had been punched in the stomach the sock she felt would be the same of hearing the news. "Jesse? When did this happen?"  
  
"Yesterday after school," Sam said and watched the changes in the girl's features. Sam was sure she couldn't be older than twenty-four unless her features tricked her age and she was older than people thought. Her long, straight, dark hair caused such effect on her face that made her deep, blue eyes shine much more than it normally would, it made her look as if she was just an innocent young girl, but in situations as this everyone was a suspect. Strangely enough, Arleen made Sam recall of Lolita - who was, what everyone thought, a pure and innocent young girl who turned out to be some kind of slut.  
  
They interviewed her with the same old questions they knew by heart by now and ended up with not much than they already had. Jessica had gone there early than usual - which meant she had cut classes - and met with a boy Arleen didn't recognize. She could only say he had black hair like hers - what was too convenient, Sam thought - for she was at lunch and left the bookstore with Jesse. Jesse had said she needed a book and it turned out to be some kind of date. Arlen would never know that if she hadn't had to go back to get the money she had forgotten, causing her to see him with a glimpse. Now the investigation turned to discover who the boy was.  
  
As they left the bookstore after the unsuccessful interview, the bell over the door sounded again, leaving behind them a stunned Arleen Simpson. As they stepped outside they were met with the December sun, which was different from its usual heat at this time of the year. It was warmer and made the cool breeze, which occasionally blew on their faces, seem less stinging. Looking up at the sky Sam noticed it would rain soon, nevertheless the sun shining. An amount of storm clouds were coming from the north and Sam truly hoped it would snow soon. Christmas was coming and she always loved a white Christmas.  
  
She tightened the coat around her when a cold breeze blew and stepped out. This particular street - not different from the rest of Manhattan - was busy and there weren't any empty places to park. Martin had to find one more distant, forcing her to walk more than she wanted to with the current weather.  
  
Finally reaching the car, she opened the door and got in, turning the heater on. Martin did the same, though slower than her. The cold probably wasn't bothering him as much as it was bothering her.  
  
"Cold?" he asked a too obvious question that if it wasn't Martin and if he wasn't doing it just to start a conversation Samantha would have probably made fun of him.  
  
"It seems it's getting colder and colder with the years." She said as she made herself as comfortable as possible on a car seat.  
  
"Yeah, well, my heater broke a few days ago so my apartment is as cold as it is outside," he said with a funny chuckle, which made her look at him and chuckle too.  
  
"Poor thing," she said with sympathetic mock. "Enjoy it while you can."  
  
Martin looked at her and nodded mockingly, "Thanks for you compassion."  
  
She smiled, trying to suppress another chuckle. Since the day before, the way they acted towards one another had changed considerably. During their 'last minute date' they had talked - not about the heart or what they felt, - just talked like two good friends. Somewhere along the date they had reached an unspoken truce, an unknown truce because since then they were more open and chatty. She felt much more at easy then she was the day before, much more after he asked her for another drink someday. She didn't know where it would lead, she only hoped it would go to somewhere good, someplace where kisses and snuggles were allowed.  
  
"You're welcome." She said flatteringly sighing dramatically and turned the radio on, leaning back on the seat again. "Do you think the boy has something do to with it?" she asked finally, after a few moments of comfortable silence.  
  
Martin shrugged and replied, "Maybe, maybe not. We need to find the boy and ask him about Jessica."  
  
"Maybe he was her boyfriend. By the fight Arleen said she saw, maybe Jessica wanted to end everything and he didn't like it."  
  
"It may be possible. It's not so strange if he didn't take it well and wanted vengeance . . .," he started but any words that would leave his mouth were stopped when the ringing of his cell phone interrupted. "Fitzgerald," he answered on the second ring and as he listened he cast glances at Sam, who was mouthing 'what is it?' curious to know if it had anything to do with the case. "We're near. I think we can make it before anyone." He listened to the words only he could hear and hung up.  
  
"Who was it?"  
  
"Jessica called her mother a few minutes ago and gave her an address." He said turning a corner harshly, getting honks from everyone near. Sam knew it wasn't a good time to speak and stayed silently just waiting for Martin to get to wherever they needed to be and hoping the girl would be all right.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
Samantha climbed out of the car even before Martin had stopped it, the tires forming a thick curtain of smoke on the ground under the car. As she got out her hand was already going to her holster to grab her gun and the other to her badge, something that strangely enough gave her a feeling of safety, making her feel as if she was protect by this little piece of leather.  
  
"Sam." She heard Martin calling to her as quite as he could. She looked back at him, her gun hanging by the handle and saw him motioning to her to wait for help. She knew what he meant, no words needed to be spoken, but she didn't want to wait. Each moment could mean the girl's life and she didn't want too much time to pass. She wanted to go inside, get the girl and get out with her alive. She wasn't going to fail again. The last time was hard enough and she wasn't going to allow that to happen again.  
  
She turned again to look ahead at the old shed that was a few feet away from her. It was simple. She had her gun so she would just go in and get the girl. If she had called for help it meant it was safe enough to do it and that Sam wasn't in danger if she went inside. She kept walking even hearing Martin's calls and other cars arriving.  
  
"Sam!" he called louder this time and she looked back again and was surprised to see Martin standing right there ready to grab her arm, which he did when he finally reached her. "Wait! We don't know who is inside."  
  
She looked in his eyes; almost daring him to stop her but her eyes left his to look at the FBI agents coming to them. "They're coming," she said and yanked her arm away from his soft grasp and resumed walking. She got there before anyone and opened the door carefully, still hearing Martin calling her name and swearing when she didn't look back. Soon enough - as she had expected - Martin was right beside her entering the shed with her. She could feel anger waving from his body and was sure he was cursing her silently.  
  
With her gun in front of her body, a device she trusted with her life, she stepped further inside silently as she heard other FBI agents entering the place by different entrances. She realized she and Martin where the only ones there.  
  
Martin and Sam turned harshly to the right when an echoed sound reached their ears and a muffled scream of 'help' was heard from another room. The place was huge and the sound could have come from any place. Sam had the brilliant idea of splitting, walking to the left and telling Martin to go to the right, under his protests. He knew she wanted to find the girl as soon as possible but she shouldn't go alone and there were other agents that could handle one side while he could go with her, but when he looked at Sam to tell her that, she was already in some dark corner he couldn't see and cursed under his breath again.  
  
"I'm going to kill her," he said softly, though the real thing he wanted to do was to kiss her until they couldn't breath. "I'll kiss her and then I'll kill her." He knew it was an empty promise; he would do nothing even close to harm her in any way. He turned to the left to follow her, walking blindly, only guessing where she had gone. He walked slowly and silently, listening to any sound around him and trying to hear anything from Samantha.  
  
Walking ahead he found an enormous sliding door made out of iron, its material already rusty and seeing the door slightly open - enough for someone to pass through - he was sure Sam had took that way. Stepping through, his gun drawn in front of his body, he walked carefully inside the room. That was until he heard a shot and a scream and his body froze. He didn't know why - he was an FBI agent, it should make him move as fast as he could instead of stopping him - while his mind worked a thousand of miles a second, thinking about Sam, wondering what could have happened, imagining the worst.  
  
But the numbness state only last two seconds. Time enough for a few more bullets to be shot.  
  
Martin ran towards the sound, his heart pounding in his ears, he was actually surprised at how close he was. The adrenaline of the moment made him stop listening, not noticing the proximity of the sound - and at how frightening the image was that he saw.  
  
Sam was knelt on the dirty floor as though she was getting up - for some reason she had been knocked on the floor and Martin didn't know why - her gun was aiming at a boy who was using Jessica's body as a shield. He was pointing his own gun at Sam and trying to point it at Jessica at the same time. Sam was trying hard to stay calm and even if she could trick the boy, who was too nervous to notice her own shaking body, she couldn't trick Martin. He saw how nervous she was. Jessica had cried so much she was now trying to catch her breath again.  
  
Martin stepped inside the room, pointing his gun at the boy and yelling at the same time the usual "FBI! Put your gun down!"  
  
Sam glanced quickly at him but her gun stayed in place, noticing the boy considering if he should drop the gun. With Martin there, for some reason she felt safer. She felt a wave of relief wash of her body when she heard his voice, which gave her the strength she needed to finally stand. She and Martin's guns were pointed at the boy and he was, for some strange reason, pointing his at Sam.  
  
"Put the gun down, Alex," Sam said softly, her voice as calm as she could keep it at the moment. "You don't have an escape now."  
  
Alex looked between Sam and Martin, not knowing what to do, his shaking hand keeping a hard grasp around Jessica neck, keeping her close to him. He was only a boy with his 16 years and an inexperienced boy, probably the first time he did something as stupid to involve the cops, and his nervousness was at a such high level that Martin started to get nervous of Alex's nervousness. He could very well point the gun at Jessica's head and get out of there but being ignorant to the situation he didn't know what to do so he did the stupidest thing he could do: he shot a FBI agent.  
  
Sam threw herself on the floor as she heard the bullet being shot and Martin's screams both to Sam and to Alex and a new bullet being shot. She looked up at time to see Jessica freeing herself from Alex's grasp giving Martin an opportunity to shot the boy, hitting him on his shoulder, someplace safe enough not to kill him.  
  
Alex fell on the floor cursing under his breath as his other hand went to the hole in his opposite shoulder and FBI agents rushing inside the room. Jessica threw herself in one of the agents' arms, crying her heart out as Martin ran to Sam's side just as she was getting up.  
  
"Do you know what you could have done?" he asked, not loudly or screaming, his normal tone of voice. But the fear and the adrenaline had caused it coming out as in anger instead, each word sounding like sharp needles.  
  
Sam looked at him with visible hurt in her eyes and it hurt even more to look in his own eyes and see the anger in there, so she looked down and used the excuse of wiping the dust off of her clothes not to look at him. And then as if she used that time to gather the strength she looked up at him again. "I saved her!" Her own anger taking over her, she almost - almost - raised her voice and walked past him, to the door.  
  
Martin put his gun back in its holster and followed her out of the room, making their way among the agents in there. "Don't walk away," he said his voice even and firm. To anyone else it would sound like his usual voice but to Samantha the bitter words would make its damage, even if they were only normal words, to her, she knew the true meaning of them.  
  
She kept walking as if he hadn't talked to her, as if his words hadn't hurt her the way they had. She kept walking away from him, her pace as quickly as she could without others getting suspicious. But she thought it wasn't quick enough for seconds of steps she felt her arm being grabbed and was startled that instead of a hard and sharp grasp, the hand on her body was soft as if it was trying carefully not to hurt her and she looked up.  
  
"You could have been killed! Or shot. Once wasn't enough? I thought you hated having a bullet inside your leg." He kept his hand on her arm, preventing her to run again and turn her back to him. It hurt more than he thought it could. He could never have imagined why turning her back to him was like some kind of betrayal. He knew why she had done that but she should know better than to act like a spoiled child.  
  
"But I wasn't!" She yanked her arm away, trying to make him let go of her arm but he didn't. As soon as her arm was free he grabbed both her shoulders, turning her to him. "Let go of me! You're not my fucking father!"  
  
He was surprised by her choice of words. She never spoke about her father even less with this kind of language, not something Samantha would do, but he didn't let it get in the way. "You're right. I'm not your father, but I care too much to let anything happen to you," he said softly with such care she almost cried in surprise, his eyes lovingly locked with hers.  
  
That was that. Her brown eyes were the color of the earth. Just the way she was, a realistic person, with her feet always on the ground, trying to get on with life as realistic as she could. They locked with his deep, blue eyes, the color of the sky. They seemed to reflect the way he was, his personality, always with his head above the clouds, a dreamy person who lived always out in space, searching the impossible, the answers they needed. They were like day and night, each needed the other to make a whole, to make it all go perfectly. They were two different people yet so alike.  
  
She was speechless.  
  
Martin's hands slowly left Sam's shoulders to slide under her arms, slightly resting one on her right hip and the other on her back. He brought her closer to him, his eyes never leaving hers and suddenly, without she even realizing it, his mouth was over hers, his mouth spread against her wet lips and opened her up to more passion than she's ever known. As his tongue tentatively touched hers, Sam forgot where she was to focus on what they were doing and brought her hands to his shoulders, slowly making their way up to his face.  
  
He slowly pulled away, a movement that seemed to pass unnoticed by Sam, who leaned in, searching his mouth again, her eyes still closed, completely unaware of the place they where. He had to smile. "Breath," he murmured onto her mouth, making it turn up into a smile.  
  
She opened her eyes and looked at him as if she had just had her first kiss; as if he was the first boy she looked at thinking how cute he was instead of the usual 'ew' they received. His eyes still holding her as she slowly caught her breath, her hands leaving his face to rest on his shoulders and for a few seconds the world seemed silent and her voice was back. "Would you like to, someday, sometime, go out?" she asked shyly, her voice barely above a whisper he almost didn't hear, almost.  
  
"I would like that," he said as one hand moved up to her face and tenderly put one tress of her blond hair out of her eyes behind her ear. "Are you busy tonight?"  
  
She almost gasped in surprise, never thinking he could ask her this soon. Sure she was thrilled but still a small sparkle of nervousness ran through her body. "Well, my hot date dumped me so I guess I'm free tonight." Her voice was still barely above a whisper so Martin leaned in to hear her better, what she misread and was already closing her eyes to savor better the moment.  
  
He chuckled softly as he put both hands on her face, cupping it and caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. She opened her eyes again, embarrassed, just to see his smile. "Good to know I cause this effect on you."  
  
She nodded stupidly, as if her voice was now some place she didn't know where - again - then she chuckled too. "You have no idea," she said with a dreamily smile, this time she wasn't looking in his eyes but somewhere beyond them, as if she was remembering a certain moment his actions had affected her someway. Suddenly, as if she remembered where they were she focused her eyes again and saw people walking around almost unaware of them, but she was sure they - the ones who had saw them - were just pretending to see nothing compromising and her body stiffened for a second just to relax again.  
  
This was Martin, the one she could show the world. The one she could say how much she loved him without jeopardizing anything or anyone. This was Martin, not Jack.  
  
He kissed her again, a light butterfly kiss, she barely felt, and before she knew it he had ended the kiss and she cursed herself for being so careless. She had almost missed it. "Seven sound good?" he asked softly and with an arm around her shoulders, he led her back to their car, out of the confusion of this place.  
  
"Perfect," she answered, smiling up at him, as she let him led her to the car, feeling her skin burn where his arm was touching the base of her neck.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
End of chapter three. I told you they'd kiss! What did you think? Please review and tell me where I mistook. Chapter four will be out as soon as I finish it. It seems the chapters are getting shorter and shorter… I'll try to fix this. =] 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter four   
  
E-mail: deiab_x@hotmail.com if you feel like, send me a feed, I'll be glad to read it =] and you can always review too (",)  
  
Spoiler: Mentions of 'The Bus'   
  
Disclaimer: I wish I owned something… Even if I did I wouldn't be so creative to make any money of it.   
  
Author's note: Thank you so much all the reviews, you guys make me feel loved, really ;] It's so good to check the site and see all the good things you guys said about my work. It sucks I know, but, anyway, you find a minute to stop what you're doing to read my lousy job and even review it.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
There she was, sitting at her desk, finishing her report with such hurry and determination that she had never felt before, just because she didn't want to bring work home. She would need all the time to get ready for tonight as possible. She'd have felt stupid if it wasn't for Martin's own hurry and nervousness. Ha ha, that was a funny one. She never thought of Martin being one of getting nervous on a date . . . she had to laugh at that.  
  
Every time she glanced up to distract herself from her papers for a few seconds, she would see Martin working hard on his own report papers, probably having the same line of thought, not wanting to bring work home either. Sometimes he'd lean back on his chair and run a hand over the back of his neck, rubbing some of the tension off and would look up, their eyes meeting for a brief second, making each one smile shyly and making Sam looks down, blushing a little.  
  
And the day went by just like that, the occasional looks, the blushes - but only on Sam's part, she didn't see Martin getting shy once - the smiles and a single wave of hand. Once, Martin had discretely shook his finger and what she believed was a wave, making her smile again as if they knew a secret no one else did - which was the case at the moment - she had look around to see if any one was seeing that little move and she wanted to kick herself.  
  
"This is NOT Jack," she told herself harshly. She had to stop doing that, there was no need to keep covering her back. It had been a long time since she had done that, before she had an affair with Jack. It's been so long ago since she had dated someone she had almost forgotten how it felt to flirt.  
  
Hell, it was damn good.  
  
It was so weird too, he made her feel as if she was 14 again and he was Tony Baxler, her first crush. When he had first entered the math class - in the middle of the year as a transfer - and Sam had set her eyes on him for the first time, the strange feeling in her belly - what later she knew was the so called 'butterflies' - she thought she was going to be sick for the strength it held. It was the first time she felt her hands sweat when he was around, or the stupid lack of speech when he said a simple 'hi'. And with Martin she felt all that again.  
  
She felt brand new, she felt as if she was in love - which was true - and what a wonderful feeling it was. She regretted all the time she spent with Jack, all the days she wasted with him when she could have been with Martin. Just and the thought of Martin sent electric sparkles down her spine, making the unstoppable move of looking up and the disappointing sight of his desk empty.  
  
She sighed sadly, upset that he had left without saying bye or even just letting her know that he was leaving. She didn't know why a small seed of anger was blossoming inside her, and was too busy trying to figure out these new feelings that she didn't notice Martin had stood beside her desk, not until he set a mug of warm coffee on her desk, when she finally felt his presence.  
  
"I'm leaving," he said as he put his hands inside his pockets. It was strange and awkward to be seeing her a few hours before they were going out to their first real date.  
  
She looked up, straight into his piercing blue eyes and saw in them the same feelings of awkwardness she was feeling. "Oh, I thought . . . I thought you had already left."  
  
"Nah," he answered with a smile. "I didn't know how long you would stay here so I went to get you some coffee before leaving."  
  
She smiled thankfully, averting her eyes to hide the shame in there. At the same time she mentally kicked herself for thinking he would leave without a word and for feeling angry for that. She would have noticed how cute he looked shy if not by the fact she was focused on how stupid she was and how guilty she was feeling. She took the cup in her hands and said, "Thank you" before drinking from it.  
  
"You're welcome," he said shyly - Sam would have said something about how cute he looked then, but again, she was too busy blaming herself and only smiled sweetly at him. "So, I guess I'm going now."  
  
"Yeah . . . bye."  
  
"See you later," he said turning to leave and Sam watched him go, angry with herself by getting angry with him for nothing and as he entered the elevator and waited for the doors to close. Their eyes met again as if they were searching each other - that's what Sam thought from the amount of times their eyes constantly met during that day.  
  
She sighed as she looked down back at her papers. It was time to go home, she decided noticing how tired of looking at the letters her eyes were. The only letters she'd want to read would be the menu of the restaurant Martin would take her, she was sure he would take her to dine. She got up and put her coat on then gathered her things to leave too.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
The key just wouldn't get into the damn hole!  
  
She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes as the air went down her throat and filled her lungs and opened her eyes again as she breathed all the air out, renovating her healthy lungs with brand new air. She gazed intensely at the keyhole, almost daring it to keep their little conspiracy of letting her outside. She held the key firmly and gingerly approached the gold little object to the door. Her hand wasn't shaking, the door was still and the keyhole wasn't moving . . . and wasn't alive either. She tried to put the key in its hole once more.  
  
And the DAMN key just wouldn't get into the DAMN hole AGAIN!  
  
"Are you trying to screw my life?!" Sam shouted - and, somehow, the door hit her right foot sending jolts of pain through it - the profane words coming out of her mouth, forgetting completely about the 'God's child' old lady from the next door apartment. Had not it been, two seconds later there she was, her white head peeking out of her door.  
  
"Are you with some kind of problem dear?" she asked sweetly, her tremulous voice only increasing the fact she was old.  
  
"Oh, no Mrs. Reynolds," Sam said putting a smile on. "Everything is great." She kept the smile on her lips as she watched the old lady going back inside. She looked harshly at the door as if it was the cause of all her problems - what at that moment she was sure it was. "See what you've done?? And you're going to make me late for my date!" she scolded really angry this time and worried about the time - even if she still had over two hours to get ready.  
  
She looked angrily at the door one last time. "I'm going to put the key in the hole and get into MY apartment, do you get it?" she whispered harshly - she didn't need Mrs. Reynolds coming out again asking subtly if she was crazy and then, bam, she was inside her apartment. 'Ahh, the power of threat,' she thought delighted.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
Now she had showered - washed her hair and dried it - she had the most difficult thing to do before a date: to pick out an outfit.  
  
"Oh, crap, what to wear?" she muttered to herself after opening the closet door. Looking through it and seeing the amount of choices she had she felt lost. How could she pick something with so many options? She looked at clock and saw she had over an hour to pick something but feared it wouldn't be enough time anyway. She sighed, only in a situation like that having a lot of clothes was a bad thing  
  
"You need to begin from somewhere," she whispered, tapping her foot on the carpet floor, still looking through her closet. "Pants and jeans are out of question," she decided. She looked down and spotted her brand new high heel sandals waving and winking at her, desperately asking to be used and she bent down to grab them and put them over the bed - carefully, of course - scribbling this item off of her mental list of 'what to wear'. "Now I need something to wear with them."  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
Forty-seven minutes later she saw herself on a jungle of clothes because half her wardrobe was scattered around the room, over the bed, on the floor, over the chair she used to - no, she didn't use it, in a matter of fact . . . it seemed it was there only for decoration - and anywhere she could throw them, but the black sandals were already on her feet.  
  
She looked at the mirror, checking for the umpteenth time what she had choose to put on, making a face when she decided the blouse didn't go with the sandals . . . it seemed everything revolved around those sandals.  
  
That was ridiculous, it was so simple to just pick something and put it on . . . she had, for the tenth time that day the similar thought that Martin made her feel as if she was having her first crush and now her first date. "OK, OK, I get that all right!" she mumbled and slapped her forehead, a little move, which made her make a face for the pain and massage the slapped spot.  
  
Her belly was feeling as if it held fireworks within and she thought she would throw up any minute now. "That's it," she said firmly. "I'm not going anymore," she decided thinking on what to say to Martin when she called him. As she was closing the closet door she froze, her eyes glued to something. She smiled happily, hope washing over her. She had found the perfect dress.  
  
She took the dress from its hanger and put it on then looked at herself through the mirror. The dress was dark brown foot length, only the tip of her sandals - which matched absolutely perfect the dress - showed. It fit her perfectly, that's why she had bought it even believing she would never use the dress, but she was wrong.  
  
Now that she had dressed on - finally -, what should she do with her hair? She thought about tying it up, wondering what Martin thought of her with tied hair. He had never said anything - why should he? She wondered if he thought that she looked good or looked bad with her hair up. She didn't know and now she didn't know what to do with her hair either. "Damn! Why did he never say anything?"  
  
She tried it, using her hands to keep her hair up, looked at the mirror on different angles, seeing if she looked good, but how could she know? She couldn't know what he liked . . . but . . . but she should, shouldn't she? 'Calm down,' she told herself breathing deeply to keep her cool, 'I bet he doesn't know what clothes you like him on better.' She looked at the mirror one more time, this time her hair was freely hanging about her head. She particularly liked her hair loose, she thought it looked better this way and again, wondered what Martin thought about it.  
  
Shit . . . she was the schoolgirl trying to impress the boy she was going out with.  
  
But he was impressed with her already, wasn't he? If not he wouldn't have kissed her - and what a kiss, by the way - or agreed to go out; but she wanted to impress him anyway. Did he think she was beautiful? She didn't know where that thought had come from but for some reason she focused on that. She wanted to know now, she needed to know. Was he going out with her just because everyone thought she was hot and he was having the chance or was he going out with her because he had feelings for her? He had to have feelings for her. She had. Love could hurt and the pain of it could be as strong as the love you felt for someone else. She didn't want to get hurt, she loved him so much it was painful sometimes - and she only realized she loved him a couple of days ago - and she couldn't stand a 'no'. She didn't know why she was having these doubts all of a sudden. Everyone knew Martin had a crush on her. Right?  
  
She shook her head to push those thoughts way. He felt something for her, she had to believe in that, and she would give it a shot. She would try to make this thing work out with him because of the simple fact she felt for him what she had never felt for anybody else. She could only hope he loved her with the same strength she loved him.  
  
She decided on letting her hair loose and moved on to the make up. Concentrating on doing it right, she tried to forget about the 'what if's and choose a brown eye shadow to put on, matching the color of her dress. She would have put dark lipstick to match the dress too, but she thought she would look too dark and loving Martin was everything but dark. As smart as she was she choose lip gloss, thinking that maybe it would drawn Martin's attention to her lips and make him want to kiss her. She smiled at her own intelligence.  
  
Finally ready, she went to the living room to wait for him, little butterflies flying up and down in her belly. Looking at the clock on the wall she saw it was 6:40 and she got more nervous. She waited, pacing all the time, for ten minutes thinking about all the possibilities why he would not come and this only reinforced her thoughts when the clock read 6:57.  
  
She buttoned the silk black blouse she was wearing over the dress and checked if the perfume wasn't too strong or too light then walked to the bathroom and looked at the mirror, checking her face to see if it was everything all right with her make up. When she walked back to the living room she looked at the clock again: 6:58. 'What the hell…' she thought. 'I should have taken longer . . . or . . . or he's not coming anymore.' She started to get even more nervous, if it was possible. It was almost seven and Martin hadn't arrived yet and she was starting to believe he wasn't coming anymore.  
  
She looked at the clock again, 6:59. 'That's it,' she thought, 'he's not coming.' She was desperate now, she was sure he wasn't coming even if it wasn't seven yet and looking at the seconds passing by it only increased her nervousness and despair.  
  
6:59 and 45 seconds . . . he's not coming. She got up and paced in front of the door, thinking on how she would face him the next morning since Jack seemed to be teaming her and Martin a lot lately. 58 seconds, what lame excuse would he tell her? What would she tell him?  
  
7 p.m.. She put her hands on her hips and bit her lower lip. Maybe he was stuck in the traffic, maybe he was finishing getting ready, maybe he was busy and couldn't make it and maybe too busy to call saying he wouldn't, maybe . . . her torturing thoughts were interrupted when a light knock on the door reached her ears. She looked up puzzled at its general way and then at the clock and tried not to laugh at how ridiculous she was being. 7 p.m. and 28 seconds, he was right on time and Sam was only being too pessimistic.  
  
She opened the door slowly, giving herself time to calm down and maybe giving Martin time too and when she opened it fully he was there. He was standing in front of her wearing a black suit, no flowers in his hands - but she didn't care - his hands were instead inside his pockets, an obvious posture of someone shy.  
  
"Hey," he said, his smile betraying the shy posture and Sam thought if he was only faking it, the smile or the shyness - she couldn't say exactly.  
  
"Hey," she repeated and no words came out of her mouth. Or his . . .  
  
Until then, "So . . ."  
  
She shook her head chuckling softly. "I'll just get my purse," she said and without wanting to. She turned and took two seconds to grab her purse and go back to the door, stopping there only to get her coat from the hanger, surprised when he helped her to put it on.  
  
"Here, let me help you," he said as he took the coat from her and held it open, waiting Sam to put it on.  
  
She slid her arms inside the long sleeves and turned to face him, their eyes meeting and locking. She was stunned by his beauty and - for the first time - the power of the love she saw in there. "Thank you."  
  
He smiled and put his hands on either side of the collar of her coat, pulling them together, closing the coat and subtlety pulling her to him. She was hypnotized by his eyes, anticipating what he would do. He leaned in, their perfumes mixing together, their blue and brown eyes becoming a third color and then their mouths became one. He brought his hands up to rest them on her face as he opened her mouth, his tongue darting out into her mouth to taste her.  
  
She wanted to open her eyes - it was incredible she was still thinking when his mouth was over hers - and see him, to see what he was doing, to see how his face looked while he was kissing her, to know if he felt the same way she did. She heard a moan and was sure it was hers, she couldn't 'not' moan, or not do any noise for the matter and unconsciously her hands went up to rest on his back, around his waist, his scent overwhelming her.  
  
When he finally let her go - much to her disappointment - they were breathless, stunned and happy. He looked at her and Sam was sure he was seeing a stupid schoolgirl instead of the fearless Samantha Spade, a rag doll standing only because of his arms that were around her waist now, holding her up. "I had to do that," he said, his breath as scarce as hers. "I couldn't stop thinking about it."  
  
She nodded, she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't think about something to say and only nodded, letting him know what he was doing to her. She saw him licking his lips, waiting for the answer she wasn't able to give at the moment, as much as she wanted to say something, she wanted to say 'I love you'. Instead she was the one who grabbed his collar this time - her purse sliding to the floor - pulling him to her and kissing him again, putting out in the kiss all the passion she was feeling inside.  
  
"I guess this is OK then," he said as he chuckled softly when they parted, his eyes burying inside her own eyes, deep to her soul, searching in there for something she didn't know of.  
  
"It's OK," she said with such eagerness he wanted to laugh, she wanted to laugh. Of course it was OK to kiss him and be kissed by him. She looked down, didn't know why, probably unconsciously searching for her purse and found it by her foot before bending down to get.  
  
"Shall we?" he asked softly, giving his arm to her.  
  
"Might as well," she nodded and stepped outside to lock the door, then accepted his arm and, again, let him led her.  
  
"Oh, and you're incredible, by the way," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath sending electric sparks down her body, she looked at him with the corner of her eyes, not daring to turn, not daring to say something else.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
She cast a quick glance at him, hoping he hadn't seen it, as he drove through New York streets, the flickering lights' fingers from the outside the car reaching inside to gently touch their faces and dance over them. He was beautiful, she thought as she cast a quick glance at him again, noticing - even under the dim light of the night - how his eyes were sparkling. Maybe because of the light that tricked her own eyes, making her see things that weren't really there, or maybe he was only as excited about it as she was.  
  
She looked down at her hands, checking her nails to see if they were well treated as she smiled softly, trying to hide it from him. The car windows were closed because of the December cold, making the inside of the car replete with his perfume, one she didn't recognize. It was different from his daily cologne, but was as good and she thought if he had used it just because of her, because it was a special occasion, if it made him remember of her somehow.  
  
She wanted so badly to look at the mirror and see if her lip-gloss was still on.  
  
She wanted to hear his voice, wanted to talk and the silence inside the car was starting to bother. She wanted to reach ahead and turn on the radio but something was keeping her back, keeping her froze. She feared that if she moved or did a sudden move it all would disappear as though everything was just a good dream. She feared everything would twist into smoke if she spoke and realized she was nervous about what the date would lead to.  
  
She wanted to break the silence but didn't know how and, as if he was reading her mind, Martin did it for her. "You're so quite," he said silently.  
  
She looked at him, this time not a quick glance and laughed softly. "I'm just…"  
  
"Nervous, I know," he finished for her, Sam understanding him, knowing at the very moment he was as nervous as she was. She smiled hoping he would see it and he did, and he smiled back at her, a welcoming feeling warming her inside and she sighed content. How could she be nervous with him? He was Martin and she loved him.  
  
"So, where are we going?"  
  
"The best place I could provide with a few hours in advance," he said mysteriously, not wanting her to know anything before she needed.  
  
"Someplace kisses are allowed, I hope," she muttered louder than she intended to.  
  
"Did I just hear that?" he said as a laugh escaped his lips. Oh, Jesus, he had a great laugh. "You know, to be honest, I thought about it too," he said when he stopped laughing, his voice small and shy.  
  
Her smiled was so bright it reached her brown eyes and lit them, the blush she felt on her cheeks probably making a spectacular effect on her face. She didn't know what to say to him after that little un-shy comment; she didn't know even what to think. It was probably a good sign he thought about kissing her - not that she had any doubts after the little scene on her doorway - but knowing and hearing it was always a good thing.  
  
He stopped the car while the red light was on, and used the few seconds to turn his head and look at her and feeling his eyes on her, she looked at him too, their eyes locking once more and both smiled. Wanting to be closer to him she reached over and grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers together. The sensations of this move caused her to lost her balance, even if she was sitting. The power of the fire inside her almost making her explode, the heat of his skin warming her own hand, sending heat up to her arm and through her whole body. She felt she was starting to shake and truly hoped he wouldn't notice and realize how stupid she was.  
  
If that touch alone could cause this effect, she wondered how it'd be to really be with him.  
  
She looked up, almost fearful of what she would see but her eyes were met with his soft smile and felt his thumb gently stroking her hand. Unfortunately the moment only lasted a few seconds, the red light soon changed to green. Martin squeezed her hand softly before letting it go to touch the cold steering wheel instead.  
  
As they were approaching the place Martin was taking Sam, she could see the bright lights of the French restaurant drawing people just like colorful flowers drew bees. She was surprised at how beautiful the place was and looked at him stunned. "The best place you could provide with a few hours in advance?"  
  
He shrugged, "Yeah, well . . ." There he was, shy again and she smiled again. He parked the car and got out, hurrying to her side to help her.  
  
As their hands slightly joined she felt the electricity ran through them, waking up the butterflies within. "Thank you." She said softly and walked ahead of him to the restaurant door.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
Four glasses of wine later and a finished meal, Samantha was sitting across from Martin, her upper body leaned in closer to his to listen more intently to his words, to feel better. His scent and his warmth. She wasn't focused on his words anymore, her eyes staring at his lips, following every move he made as he talked. It wasn't that what he was talking was uninteresting but her interest was more focused on his wet lips.  
  
She occasionally listened to what he was saying and smiled or laughed softly, even chuckled, it wasn't a fake chuckle, it was real, her true self showing. She really was interested in what he had to say but at some point the longing to kiss him was too much and his words stopped going into her head. All she could think, all she could look at were his lips. His sweet scent wasn't helping a bit to keep her focused on his words.  
  
Suddenly she brought one hand to the back of his neck and pulled him to her, silencing any word that was coming from his mouth with a moist and passionate kiss. She felt the world spinning as her lips touched his, as he opened her mouth to once more taste her sweetness, to play with her tongue, a small moan escaping from her throat not caring where they were. Not caring people could see them and talk about, point fingers at them.  
  
Martin caught by surprised didn't let it last too long, for soon his hands were on her face. His tongue playing with hers, taking inside himself all the passion she was putting out in the kiss, mixing it with his own passion. He tasted the wine and the sweet flavor of the chocolate cake she was eating for dessert. She alone tasted sweet like honey and refreshing like cold water, a taste he had never felt in any other kiss before and it amazed him.  
  
As she slowly pulled away she opened her eyes, focusing them on him, coming back to reality. The sight of her cheek flushed and her lips swollen made him smiled. She looked at him for seconds, not one saying a word, just staring at each other, wondering why - how - a simple kiss could cause this powerful result. "I . . ." She started but words failed her and she didn't really know what to say anyway.  
  
He smiled understanding her, somehow reading in her eyes what she couldn't say. He smiled as one hand went to her face to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. His hand flattened her cheek, his warmth making her whole body shiver with delight. "Nice way to tell me to shut up," he whispered.  
  
Even considering how close they were, she was still surprised when his breath touched her lips gently, his air mixing with hers as she breathed his own warm breath. She wanted to close her eyes and kiss him again, feel his lips again, feel his tongue tasting her, but she couldn't ask, she wouldn't of course and she couldn't even lean in and kiss him again, she was too numb right now.  
  
As if he had read her mind, he leaned in, his lips softly touching hers at first, too softly for Sam's liking and she leaned in too, forcing their lips together, sticking them so close no air could get through.  
  
She loved the sensations of his skin and his touch and the affect caused on her and this scared her to no end. What she felt was something she couldn't explain, it was like something heavenly; you know what it is but you can comprehend. She had never felt like that before, not even once to help her feel less confused. She had never felt something even close to that with Jack. What she felt was so much better she had to prove to herself it was real.  
  
He pulled away; she cursed him. Resting his forehead on hers, one arm went around her shoulder, his hand caressing softly the nap of her neck, her body was shivering under his touch and he whispered in her ear. "Do you feel this?"  
  
She nodded; her eyes closed as if they didn't have the strength to open themselves. Her heavy breath went straight to his lips, his heavy breath went straight to her lips. They were taking in each other lives. She bit her lower lip, wondering what she had done to deserve something like that, but she was sure that with all what she had done wrong she had done something right to deserve all the feelings, the happiness, to be falling in love . . . to deserve Martin.  
  
His hand left her neck to go to her face and the other soon joined, turning her face to him, making her look into his eyes. He smiled; he had to. She was too beautiful to be true, a piece of art and the dim light in the restaurant only increased her beauty, her face flickering by the candlelight on their table. "God . . . you're beautiful." He murmured not knowing where this comment had come from.  
  
She was mute. Stunned and mute. He had said she was beautiful before, no mystery he thought she was, she knew that but it was the way he spoke, his true feelings speaking for him, the power of those three words. And she thought how it would feel to hear him say those other so wanted to be heard three little words.  
  
He kissed her, a butterfly kiss, just a brush of lips she barely felt and then he stood, his hand laced with hers, pulling her up with him. "Come on, let's go," he said softly waving his hand to a waiter asking for the check and a few minutes later they were back inside the car.  
  
"Where are we going?" she asked quietly side glancing at him.  
  
"You'll see," he said as a small enigmatic smile played on his lips. She smiled back, leaning back on her seat, making herself as comfortable as she could.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
He parked the car on an empty spot, - well, there was no occupied placed in matter of fact - and got out as Sam did the same. She pulled her coat firmly round her, the night breeze much colder and even more now that they were in the winter. "What are we doing here?"  
  
"Come and see," he said softly, taking her hand in his, its warmth very welcoming, warming within her. He led her down the path that lead to the docks, her high heels clicking on the wood floor.  
  
When they reached the end of the dock Martin leaned in the railing as he let go of Sam's hand, looking at the soft and small waves on the water. The dock was completely dark, free of artificial lights, the only thing illuminating them was the gently bath of moonlight.  
  
Sam stood beside him, watching him with curiosity and affection, giving him the time he needed, the silence he needed to think, to say whatever he needed to say. She smiled lovingly, she couldn't help it, this was something she didn't have control over and it happened every time she looked at him, every time she thought about him.  
  
Linking her arm through his, she leaned in the railing too and looked around, trying to see what he was seeing, to find the reason he had brought her here. "It's beautiful," she said looking at the water, amazed it hadn't frozen yet, looking at the horizon. The night was calm and even considering the cold it was comfortable. Maybe because of the company.  
  
"It is even more beautiful in the summer," he nodded as he spoke, the hand of his linked arm found hers and joined them.  
  
They stayed there, in silence just watching the scenario. Sam sighed silently and rested her head on Martin's shoulder, never letting go of his hand. Suddenly she felt a cold drop right on her nose and looked up thinking it was starting to rain. As she looked up she saw tiny snowflakes coming from the sky and smiled happily. It'd be a white Christmas after all.  
  
"It's snowing," Martin said, pointing the obvious and looked at Sam to see her big smile. "And it seems you're enjoying it."  
  
"I'm not much of a fan of snow but I enjoy the sight it causes," she stated and tugged at his hand, pulling him from the railing and back to the car.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
He pulled over by her building and she sighed, not loudly, she didn't want him to hear it, to notice the disappointment she was felling. That was it, the end, she thought as she looked at the black glass doors of her building entrance. It was melodramatic, she knew that; it was just the end of their first date. She knew they'd see each other next morning and probably have more dates eventually. But . . . it was something inside her, something that made her feel as if she was parting away, as if she wasn't going to see him anymore.  
  
She turned to look at him only to find he was looking at her first. She tried to suppress a smile, but - of course - she failed, which caused Martin to smile back. It seemed to be happening a lot lately. "So . . . "  
  
"So . . . "  
  
"I should . . . go," she said and reluctantly reached for the door, but was stopped by a soft hand on her arm.  
  
"Wait," he said calmly, no sign of nervousness and Sam wondered if he was only trying to hide his real nervousness or if he was really feeling like that, this calm. "I really enjoyed today."  
  
"Yeah, me too," she bit her lip. She couldn't stop staring at him, at his beauty. She had to kiss him again. She had to do this soon; she had to do something soon; she couldn't just stay there staring at him, it was creepy.  
  
Leaning in she put a quick kiss on his lips. It wasn't enough, but it'd have to do. She was already pulling back when she felt a soft hand on the back of her neck, gently pulling her back in. Suddenly her beat started beating too quickly. With each beat she felt as if her heart would fly right out of her chest. Every time she felt his lips it was like it was the first time, it was always so full of passion and love. She chuckled in the middle of the kiss, breaking the spell.  
  
"What?" Martin asked, but amused by her sudden attitude, started chuckling too, curious to know what she found funny.  
  
"Nothing," she chuckled the word out. She herself didn't really know what was funny. It was just that she felt as if she could chuckle, she could laugh. He made her happy, that's all. Why shouldn't she find it funny? She shook her head and said again, "Nothing." And before he could ask anything else she put her lips over his again.   
  
They pulled apart for some air, their lips away from one another, but their eyes locked. His warm breath was going straight to her lips, they were still that close. Martin's hand was still on the back of her neck and using it again, he pulled her to him for one more kiss.  
  
"I should really go," she said breathless when they pulled apart again.   
  
"Yeah. It's getting late," he nodded, agreeing with her, but his hand didn't leave her neck. She kissed him quickly, one more time before getting out of the car.   
  
"Bye," she whispered faintly, waving a blind hand in front of her. "See you tomorrow."   
  
"Bye."   
  
She smiled at him and turned to enter her building. When she got to her door, she had the same problem of before. The key was kind of reluctantly to work, but she managed it anyway. She had her way with inanimate things. She had sure she was grinning like crazy; she would see a stupid smile on her lips if she looked at a mirror. When she closed the door behind her, she leaned heavily on it, a big smile spreading across her face.   
  
Good thing she hadn't used lipstick.  
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
End of this chapter.  
  
One more chapter done. Thank God. I didn't really like this chapter… I thought it was kind of stupid… I don't know... not the most brilliant one, but, well, anyway, review and tell me what you think. I don't know if I should continue; what do you think? 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter five  
  
Disclaimer: They are all property of someone… not me… unfortunately.  
  
Author's note: First, thank you for the lovely comments, there are too many people to name here so thank all of you; you guys make this fanfic worthy. This chapter is kind of well, "blah" I just didn't know what to write. I just spent the last hour or so staring as that thing on the screen kept blinking, waiting for me to type something and the only thing that came out was a few sentences. It was like that for days. So this shit came out, err, sorry, but I hope you like it…   
  
Second thing, I started a Martin and Sam Forum @ destinedto.proboards26.com so if you like them go check it out.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 5  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Julia Collins," Jack said as he put a picture of the girl in front of Sam. "Five years old, two hours missing. Her mother called 911 when she didn't found Julia this morning in the park."  
  
Sam gingerly took the picture in her hands, looking somewhat fearful at it. The blond little girl looked back at her. Her deep blue eyes shinning like diamonds and Sam felt a twinge in her heart remembering the case, not long ago, when they failed to find Kathleen. Kathleen looked so much like Julia, with her light blond hair and piercing blue eyes.  
  
When she looked up from the smiling girl she noticed she had lost half of what Jack had said. Her eyes darted over to Martin on a quick motion but enough to catch his questioning eyes. She wanted to throw herself in his arms and just stay there for the rest of the day. She wanted to forget everything; all the pain and only concentrate on his warm touch and the sweet words of comfort she was sure she would get out of his mouth.  
  
"Sam," Jack said and she met his eyes, startled, realizing she had once again lost what he had said, "you and Martin go talk with Lucy Carrol." Lucy Carrol? Who the hell was Lucy Carrol? Well, it wasn't so surprising she didn't know since she hadn't heard a word of what Jack had said. She looked hopefully at Martin and saw him getting up, so she did the same.  
  
"Come on." He patted her back softly - this single act made her shiver with delight - as he stood next to her. "I'll fill you in."  
  
She smiled thankfully at him. "Yeah. I kind of dozed off."  
  
He chuckled silently and they walked side by side to the elevators. "Yeah, Spade, I noticed." He pushed the elevator button and suddenly became serious. "But . . . aside from that, are you all right?"  
  
She looked down; her black boots seeming more attractive then his lovingly face and concerned eyes. "I'm fine."  
  
"Sam . . .," he scolded and put a hand on her arm. "Come on, it's me here, you can talk to me," he whispered, his words making their way through her and she looked up, staring at his eyes. That moment the elevator doors opened, the 'ding' announcing its arrival.  
  
They stepped inside and the moment the doors closed, Sam found herself in Martin's arms. She sighed loudly and deeply, his warmth soothing and lulling her, his scent entering her nose, making her inhale in deeply. "It's just . . ." She closed her eyes; only feeling the moves of the elevator and his strong arms around her. It was a perfect moment, the silence between them relaxing; she didn't want to break it. "It's nothing. I'm going to be fine."  
  
Martin ran his hands softly on her back, pressing his fingers gently as he moved them. His cheek was slightly rested on the side of her head, her smooth hair tickling his face. When he spoke, his mouth was so close to her ear that his warm breath went straight to her skin, sending a shiver through her body. "That's all right. If you want to talk I'll be right here."  
  
She nodded and looked up, wanting to meet his eyes. He was so sweet that she couldn't stop being stunned by his behavior. Before she had never noticed how he acted around her, never noticed how he stuttered sometimes or how his hands were sweating. She never noticed because she was still getting over Jack and her thoughts were only on reasons to not love him. When she had finally allowed herself to live again she started noticing Martin and the sweet way he treated her, which always made her heart melt.  
  
She put her hands on his chest, softly pulling him away, giving her room enough to lean in and place a sweet, chaste kiss on his lips. "I know," she nodded as she spoke. "Thank you."  
  
He chuckled silently, his chest moving with his chuckle and her hands moving with his chest. She smiled up at him, rather innocently. A look in her eyes saying how amused she was. "For . . . ?"  
  
She shrugged, her eyes still on his. "For . . . just for being you."  
  
"You're welcome . . . I guess."  
  
"Yeah, you should say that." She chuckled too and stepped away from him as the elevator came to a stop.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
2 days later . . .  
  
Martin slowly made his away towards the temple of his worshipped goddess - or Sam's desk, carefully not to let her see him before he could make out which mood she was in today. With each step closer he studied her face and body movements as to discover if she was pissed or something that would make him regret the day his was born and make him run.  
  
When this thought crossed his mind he stopped deadly on his feet, right there, in the middle of the FBI Missing Persons Unit level, people passing by him as if he wasn't even there blocking up their path.  
  
He looked at Sam intensely, considering if he really should disturb her, or even get close enough to let her see him. OK, now the dread was taking over. He shook his head, trying to shoo these thoughts away. She was just a small, delicate and beautiful woman, just that.  
  
'With a gun.' Damn that little voice in the bottom of your head.  
  
OK, so she was a beautiful woman with a gun. So . . .? Yeah, beautiful women with guns were really, really dangerous. He bit his inner cheek and thoughts about the possibilities. She couldn't kill him, but nothing would stop her from hurting him and, well, beautiful women + guns = danger. Maybe he would disturb her sometime later.  
  
As he was turning around his eyes caught a glimpse of hers and he felt all his dread taking over again. She had seen him now he had to go over her. Shit.  
  
He smiled a tiny small and she waved a 'I'm not in the mood for that' hand and he knew he was screwed. He walked to her and stopped in front of her desk. Cleaning his throat discreetly he asked, "So, hum, do you want to do something tonight?"  
  
She shot him that evil look and he would've ran, but some kind of invisible force was keeping him paralyzed and he just couldn't move. "Are you blind or something?" She looked at him crossly. She moved as if she was about to get up, and he would really run if she did, but she just shifted position and sat up straight instead.  
  
He wasn't blind, of course not. He had seen wall the paperwork she was doing, papers all around her over the table plus the stress of the last case plus the five cups of coffee she had already drank. He wasn't blind . . . he was just stupid.  
  
He knew what would happen, all the possibilities of what would come of talking to her knowing how moody she was in the past two days and anything was pissing her off. Anything and everything was making her mad. It could be, hum, well, that womanly 'thing' or she was going through something bad. The latter send a tingle of sadness through him, that she would actually shut him out like that, if that was what was really happening.  
  
He focused on her again and saw that she was still waiting a response so he shifted too, changing the foot he was putting his weight over and opened his mouth to speak, "Hum . . . No . . .?" He asked half fearful half hurt which she probably noticed.  
  
"Martin, I . . ." Words failed her so she just sighed and put both hands on her head, covering her face from him. She stayed like that for a few seconds then put her one hand down and the other she ran through her hair, taking a few tresses from her face. "I'm sorry. I just needed some quite, you know?"  
  
"Yeah." He smiled again, assuring her he was all right. "Some times I need some quite too."  
  
She smiled up at him, a beautiful, bright smile that showed him how grateful she was that he had understood. That was new. He had just earned a few points by being understandable. "Don't you have paperwork to do?" she asked softer this time.  
  
"Yeah," he let out in a puff of air. Unfortunately he did have paperwork to do.  
  
"Why don't you come over my place instead?" she asked as she got up and walked around her desk to stood in front of him. "You bring Chinese for dinner and we do the paperwork together." Bring work home was the last thing Sam wanted but if this meant Martin would come along then, that was fine, specially because paperwork was the last thing she had in mind . . .  
  
"Sure. What time?"  
  
She checked the watch on her wrist and looked up back at him. "I have to go see my therapist in twenty minutes. Why don't you come over around seven-ish?"  
  
"Sounds good."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I'm going now then. I was about to leave anyway. Just stopped by to see if you wanted to go out."  
  
"OK."  
  
"See ya," Martin said and waved a hand as he left, leaving Sam behind watching him go.  
  
So, now all she had to do was to go to that stupid shrink session.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
She was just finishing to hang her coat up when the doorbell rang. She hurried to answer it and opened without looking through the peephole knowing very well it was Martin. Opening the door she greeted him with a kiss, her fond lips were softly placed among his. Even for a mere second it felt really incredible.  
  
"I stopped by the Blockbuster," he said lifting the hand that was holding a plastic bag.  
  
"I thought we were gonna do paperwork . . .," she said with a witty smile.  
  
"Whatever," he smiled too and walked to the dinner table were Sam's papers were and set his briefcase and Chinese take out there.  
  
"I'll go get the drinks," she said and went to the kitchen. "I have strawberry juice, coke and the so basic coffee. Which one do you want to drink?"  
  
"Coke is fine."  
  
Sam brought everything and Martin helped her to take it to the TV room. Setting everything on the coffee table, Sam took the DVD case and looked at it. "Casablanca?" She looked stunned at him. "You've got to be kidding."  
  
He only shrugged and shoved one piece of chicken from the take out in his mouth. "It's a classic."  
  
"Yeah, that will make me sleep. You know, I've been in sleep deprivation for these past two days. You're my hero," she mocked and made her away to the player, brushing Martin slightly with her smooth skin. The air swiftly brought her scent around his nose and lingered there for a good second or two. He watched as she tried to get the disc out, it wouldn't cooperate, and laughed to himself as she became frustrated.  
  
"Oh yeah, I love it," he said silently to himself, still watching her trying to get the disc out.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Somewhere along the movie Sam had brought wine to drink instead of the coke, which had ended long before. Each one had a glass of red wine in hands, careful not to have too much, or enough to make either of them drunk.  
  
Half way through the move and she had already closed her eyes at least ten times, and almost fell asleep. The movie was so boring she had to focus on something else to keep herself from sleeping. The tick tock of the clock was something very interesting, but five minutes later it was starting to annoy her. Or a small fly that was buzzing around, but, well, she lost the interest in it minutes later.  
  
For reasons like these she got up and went to the kitchen to get something - or pretended to want something from there - and found the bottle of wine.  
  
She sighed not too loudly and snuggled closely to Martin, linking her arm within his. She placed her head gently on top of his shoulder. He felt a smile of joy come upon him as he glanced down at her.  
  
"I'm bored," she said suddenly after a few moments of silence. "Maybe we should do something more . . . less boring." He looked at her with an eyebrow raised as she sat there looking up at him, grinning.  
  
"Like what?" She giggled and he soon found his lips with hers. It ended, due to her pulling away, just as quickly as it started.  
  
She took his glass of wine from his hand and put it and her own glass down on the coffee table where all the empty take-outs cartons were. Turning back to him she pressed her lips over his before he could say anything. As she moved her lips with his, her hands danced up his body, from his arms to the softness of his dark hair.  
  
She felt his arms crept around her waist, the warmth of them wrapping her body in a ball of comfort and she felt herself being pulled into him, wanting to feel more of his touch, of his tenderness. She shifted and her next position was straddling his lap, her hands softly resting on his shoulders.  
  
She looked in his blue eyes with a expression on her face as if she was amazed by the color of them. It was as if they held some kind of mysterious secret she would discover if she kept looking at them time enough. She brought one hand up and traced it with her fingers, gently, like he might break. He brushed a stray hair from her forehead, their eyes locked in the intimacy of the moment, and very gently he pressed his lips against hers.  
  
She let him kiss her with this alien tenderness, this passion and care as if she was about to break anytime. A long time passed and he finally moved to pull away. She slid her hand up his back and to the side of his face, holding him there in the moment. Then she pulled him into a deeper kiss.  
  
He opened his mouth, letting her have whatever she wanted. He let all the passion building between them float from one body to the other, causing sensations neither of them had never felt before. His warmth now was like fire, which was coming from his body to burn within her.  
  
She pulled away, the need to breath too strong to disregard any longer. She met his eyes and was once more overwhelmed by the love she saw in them. She couldn't stop herself when her fingers made their own way to his shirt and tremulously worked on each button.  
  
Martin put one hand under Sam's chin and brought her head up, searching her eyes, wanting to know if it was all right. She looked at him, in his eyes and silently she gave him authorization to do whatever he wanted to do as her mouth found his again.  
  
Soon his lips left hers to trail soft and gentle kisses along her jaw line down to her neck. She closed her eyes to feel his touches better and got nervous only for a moment when his mouth reached her collar, his fingers working to undo the buttons of her blouse. He pulled it from her right shoulder first, kissing it gently a few times then moved to the other to do the same. He stopped to look at her, to see her shinning eyes and pink lips, to search for any sign of nervousness and was relieved when he found none, her opened blouse revealing her black bra.  
  
He opened his mouth to say something but Sam put a finger over his lips stopping him of doing so then brought her finger down and put her lips on his instead. She got up from his lap and the couch holding his hand to pull him up with her. Her mouth soon found his and kissing him with more passion than she had before, she walked with him to her bedroom, closing the door behind them.  
  
There would, indeed, not be any work done tonight.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
'There is too much light in here.' Sam's eyes still remained closed but her body was now wide awake especially after replaying the moments last night in her mind like a really good movie that you repeat a particular good scene over and over.  
  
With this very thought as a wake up call, her eyes sprung open to face the dreaded morning light, a smile over her lips matching how big her eyes were now. But this was worth waking up for, after all. Confronting the first morning light never felt so exciting.  
  
She was facing the door, nothing in front of her and she regretted the fact that Martin was holding onto her from behind. She tried to move, to turn and look at him, but his arm was heavily around her waist, unconsciously keeping her to him. The warmth of his skin floating now straight to hers, skin against skin.  
  
She sighed and realized that if she wanted to look at him she would have to move from his touch and he would wake up. She didn't want him to wake because she waned to see him sleeping. A strange thought, she knew that, but she just wanted to do something she had never done before.  
  
Lifting his arm slowly and carefully she turned around, her head resting by his on the pillow, his soft breath straight to her face, his scent invading her nose. She stayed like that, just watching him for a few seconds, until his eyes slowly opened.  
  
"Hey," he murmured with a sleepy voice. "Were you watching me?" he asked overstating the obvious and she rolled her eyes playfully.  
  
"Maybe," she whispered, her lips mere inches from his, teasing him. "Did you sleep well?"  
  
"Not that I really slept," he mumbled and kissed her forehead, his arms reached to pull her closer as his hands touched her silk skin. "Morning."  
  
"Morning," she whispered, sighing deeply, happiness washing over her, running within her body. She was feeling like she had never felt. Not that it was really a surprise.  
  
She kissed him softly, her lips gently moving over his, and pulled away. She snuggled in him, her head resting on his chest, her hand mapping unknown figures on his skin and his arms locked around her body.  
  
"I love you," she whispered, out of nowhere.  
  
Martin tightened his hold on her body then shifted, making Sam lay flat on the mattress and he laying on the side of his body to where he was almost on top of her. He gently touched her forehead and tucked a tress of golden hair behind her ear then leaned in to plant a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you too," he said softly when he pulled away, his lips only inches from hers, making his breath caress her lips.  
  
She pulled herself up enough to kiss him again. One hand went to the back of his neck, bringing him down as she did the same to rest again on the mattress, this time all Martin's weight was right over her. She deepened the kiss as his lips parted allowing her entrance and soon their tongues were dancing together, feeling each other, feeling the taste Martin and Sam were getting used to.  
  
He pulled away first, needing to breath, but rested his forehead on hers. She tightened the grip on his neck, pulling him closer, wanting to feel every inch of his skin on her. The need for him, the desire to be with him getting stronger and stronger with each passing minute.  
  
Suddenly, much to Martin's surprise, she pulled away from him and out of the bed, taking the sheet with her to cover her naked body.  
  
"And you did this because . . .," he asked, frozen in the same position he was when she left the bed, too startled by what had just happened to move.  
  
"Did you see what time is?"  
  
"No . . .?"  
  
"Martin!" she said rather harshly, confused by his own confusion. "We have less than one hour to get ready and be at the FBI in time!"  
  
Now, he was out of that so strange confused situation, he finally looked at the clock. The numbers on it slowly registering in his mind. His mind on the other hand was working on why that beautiful woman wasn't under him anymore.  
  
Finally his brain registering that little information of time and he let himself fall out of the bed. He sighed heavily and cursed anything that crossed his mind. Too caught up with his rambling, he hadn't noticed that Sam was putting clothes on and hurrying around the room.  
  
"Damn! I forgot to turn on the alarm clock," she muttered as she went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. When she was back Martin was still laying on the bed, his full naked body relaxed and with no worries. "Martin!"  
  
"I'm getting up," he mumbled and slowly got out of the bed. Too slowly, Sam noticed. He put on his clothes and sat on the bed waiting for something neither of them was sure.  
  
Sam watched him for two seconds and chuckled, which caught Martin's attention and he brought his eyes to her. "You know," she started and sat beside him, "this is going to be fun."  
  
"What?"  
  
"To see you struggling with yourself to keep your hands off me during work."  
  
He groaned incoherent words and fell back on the bed. She giggled this time and looked down at him understandably then patted his leg.  
  
"Time to go, buddy," she said, still giggling.  
  
He got up with her and they walked together to the TV room where Martin's coat was. He put it on; breathing out some curses knowing very well Sam was watching him.  
  
"Don't be so hard on yourself," she said softly, one hand resting on his arm as they walked to the door after Martin had taken his briefcase off the dinning room table. He turned to look at her, waiting for her next words. "I'll even let you put your hands on me when no one is looking," she whispered flirtatiously, noticing the desire in him was growing.  
  
"You suck," he mumbled out just before kissing her lips.  
  
"But you love me anyway."  
  
"Hell, yeah," he kissed her softly one more time. His lips touching hers and they were like fire always burning and getting stronger and bigger. A shiver ran down her body as she remembered those same lips had touched every inch of her body, causing every kind of sensations.  
  
He opened the door and stepped out, his eyes still on hers, not being capable of taking them away from her eyes. The way they shone, they way she looked at him; it was so incredible, so damn good. She made him feel so special.  
  
She leaned closer to him, his lips touching the skin of his ear. "I love you," she whispered, sending shivers through him.  
  
"Me too," he kissed her for the last time - he promised himself it would be - and stepped away. "Bye."  
  
"Bye. See you later," she said and closed the door, putting a thick piece of wood between them, but only putting a barrage between their bodies because mentally they were still very connected. "See you later," she whispered to herself, wishing she hadn't had to let him go just yet; wishing she could have stayed with him a little longer.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
End of chapter five. Hope you liked it. I hope to write more soon, but I've been too lazy lately.... I don't even know how I got this chapter done, tough it sucks... I hated this chapter... 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six  
  
Disclaimer: No more of it! No more of it! But they're not mine, though.   
  
Author's note: I don't know if they have a break room or something where they work, so if they don't pretend they do. ;] Some JS, but nothing you need to worry about. Thanks for all the reviews. They really cheer me up and make me want to write more.   
  
Again MS forum @ destinedto.proboards26.com Go check it out.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 6  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Samantha reached forward and wrapped her fingers around the cup of coffee when they touched it, to take a sip of the not so warm black content. When she lifted the cup its weight let her know no liquid was in there anymore; she looked inside it anyway, just to make a double check; to be sure there was no more coffee indeed. Yep, no more coffee.  
  
She sighed and put the cup down, then pressed her hand over her face, her fingers massaging softly one eye, then the other, trying to rid them of some of the tension. She was so tired of looking at the computer screen that the images and letters on there were all foggy now and she had to take another look to make out the words.  
  
She brought her hand down and looked back at the screen, hoping she would finally have something. Well, today she wasn't very lucky; no matches yet. "I've got nothing yet," she said loud enough for Jack to hear.  
  
"Keep looking, you may find something," his voice was so close to her that Samantha would've jumped out of the chair if she hadn't learned how to keep her cool. One of his hands was slightly rested on her shoulder sending warmth to her body. His personal scent - one she knew very well - was all around her, making her remember some of times they spent together.  
  
She didn't care; his touch didn't affect her anymore, his scent didn't make her heart beat faster or ache with grief. He had no longer any kind of affect over her.  
  
"I've been here nearly three hours now. I can't look at a computer for the rest of the day, my eyes are aching already."  
  
"Why don't you go get some lunch then?" he said and took a step back, away from her, making Sam sigh with relief for this proximity was disturbing. Now the way he invaded her personal bubble was somehow irritating her.  
  
"Yeah. I'm starving." She stood and looked around to see if Martin had gotten there yet, then she turned to look at Jack. "I'll just wait to until Martin's here to see if he wants to grab some lunch together." Ouch, that just came out . . . not that she really wanted to keep it to herself.  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised and crossed his arms in a defensive posture, then, as if trying to be nonchalant, he un-crossed his arms and looked at the computer screen. "Martin?"  
  
"Yeah." She smiled, showing it, even if he wasn't looking at her; she knew he would see it anyway. She wanted to show him she was fine, she wasn't hurt anymore; that she had moved on.  
  
He brought his eyes back to her, but instead of looking at her face or her eyes he let them travel her body, as though he was studying her, searching for any signs she was taken already. "You and Martin? Really?"  
  
"Yeah." She felt that somehow this conversation was getting uncomfortable, not that she didn't want to talk about Martin because that was all she wanted to talk about, she wanted to say how wonderful he was, how gentle and nice and caring he was. What was uncomfortable was the fact that Jack seemed to be checking up on her, seeing if Martin was right for her. This just made her more irritated.  
  
She turned to look at the direction of the elevator again and see if Martin was coming, but Jack's words brought her back to him. "So you two are . . . what? Just getting out? Casual encounter? Seeing each other just to alleviate the tension? What?"  
  
His words were bitter than he wanted them to sound and they hurt her, they really did. She didn't know why she let him affect her like that. She was over him of course, but his words hurt her more than anybody else's because he knew her, he really did, but thought less of her anyway.  
  
"This was uncalled for, Jack." Though her eyes were free of hurt tears her voice showed those same drops of water she fought against in her eyes. "We're dating," she said through clenched teeth, barely holding back the anger she felt, her voice wasn't teary anymore.  
  
"Sam . . ." Jack said softly, regretting the way he spoke to her, feeling the need to apologize. "I'm sorry . . ."  
  
"No, that's OK," she cut him off and looked again at the elevators wishing Martin was already there. "I better go. I'm starving." She wouldn't wait for Martin if this meant she'd have to face Jack and she was just worn out right now. She took her coat from the back of the chair and walked away from him.  
  
Getting near the elevator, she pressed the button with much more force than it was actually needed, making a muffled sound echo silently. She was feeling the strong need to cry, to let those tears she fought against come out just as they wanted.  
  
She put her coat on and crossed her arms in front of her body and stayed there waiting for the doors to open with her head down and hoping Jack wouldn't follow her. She didn't need his lame attempts he called excuses. She need Martin's arms to be wrapped around her and comfort her.  
  
Hearing the 'ding' she looked up out of reflex, and waited the doors to open to practically throw herself inside.  
  
"Woah. Slow down pretty woman."  
  
Sam looked up startled and met Martin's eyes and smiling face. She put one hand on the door to stop it from closing. "Hey." She smiled by seeing his own smile; the deep blue of his eyes making her feel a familiar warmth.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"I was . . ." She trailed off, forgetting for a second what she was going to say as she looked deeply in his eyes and got lost for a second in it. "I was going eat."  
  
He lifted one hand until it was at her eye level and shook a plastic bag in front of her.  
  
"Take out?"  
  
"We don't have enough time to eat so take out is better than no food."  
  
He had bought food for her, how lovely, but that meant she would have to eat here and she didn't want to face Jack right now. Realizing she was still keeping the elevator, she pulled Martin inside and let the elevator doors close. "Why don't we go eat somewhere else?" It was her best option, either she ate at the FBI, with Jack or they could go to the park or somewhere.  
  
"Why?" He looked intensely at her, waiting for her answer, confused by her attitude.  
  
"I just want to get out of here for a while."  
  
"Sam?"  
  
She met his eyes; she knew she couldn't fool him. Martin noticed the way she was acting and that something had happened. She was wearing that fearless façade and stood in a defensive posture, even if she didn't need to. Something had happened and he was sure it was something with Jack.  
  
He pressed a button and stopped the elevator, keeping the doors closed. Putting one hand on her face to make her look at him, he asked, "What happened?"  
  
"Nothing." She shook her head. "Nothing."  
  
He sighed and put the bag on the floor so he could use both his hands. Putting them on her face, cupping it, he made her look in his eyes as he did the same, his thumbs caressing her cheeks gently. "Do you trust me?"  
  
She looked puzzled at him, stunned by the absurdity of his question. "Of course I do."  
  
"So tell me what's going on. You can't shut me out every time something happens with you. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's upsetting you."  
  
She sighed, knowing he was right, that she was doing just that, shutting him out. But it was hard for her to let this kind of intimacy happen. She had been hurt so much before that she was scared she would something wrong and get hurt again. Her problems were her problems and nobody else's.  
  
Not if she wanted a relationship with him because then her problems were his problems and vice versa.  
  
"I told Jack we're seeing each other."  
  
"Oh," he let out in a disappointed puff of air.  
  
He was hurt; she knew that, she had hurt him without wanting it because he had just got the wrong idea. "No! It's not like that. I'm upset because of some things he said and I told him we were dating."  
  
"Oh," he let out again but this time in a relieved puff.  
  
"I just don't know if you want people to know about us. We can keep it quite if you want . . ."  
  
"That's all right." He chuckled and put his arms around her, holding her tightly to him then kissed her forehead softly. "You can tell people about us, no problem. If you want, that is."  
  
She pulled away just enough to look at him. She nodded as a sweet smile crept over her face then she leaned in to kiss him softly, just like he had kissed her forehead before. "I want people to know about us."  
  
"Good," he whispered and missing the feel of her lips on his, he kissed her again. He noticed the bag of food on the floor said, "So, what if we go eat now?"  
  
"Yeah." She nodded and pulled away then pressed the button so the elevator would move again. "Let's just go back."   
  
To hell with Jack. She would go back and do what she always did without letting him hurt her and letting his words affect her. She had to forget that, he just did what he always did . . . he was just being the Jack she knew.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
". . . then I turned and out of nowhere the woman punched me with her baseball bat." Danny rambled, one hand on the back of his head massaging the hit spot.  
  
Sam was standing behind him trying to see the bump on his head as she carefully chewed a piece of, well, something that Martin and brought. Due to Danny covering the bump with his hand, almost if he was afraid someone would touch it, Sam couldn't see the damage.  
  
Danny and Viv were teamed to go interview a woman, who would possibly be a witness of their case, but it turned out to be - or that's what seemed - that she was somehow involved in the case of this missing person.  
  
As soon as Danny had, err, invited himself in her house using his ID as a ticket to get inside, the woman got somewhat fearful and a lot dangerous. They interviewed as quick as they could so they could go back to the FBI and search on the computer for something different about Valerie Melbourne. But, much to Danny's dismay they found Valerie wasn't who she alleged she was by hitting Danny on the head - the jinxed one who was behind - with a baseball bat and ran to the back doors.  
  
Since Danny was kind of non-awake - he was laying on the floor with one hand on the back of his head mumbling incoherent words - he wasn't of much help and Viv, in high heels and in not so great shape couldn't stop the woman, not mentioning that she was so stunned by what had happened and was trying to see if Danny was all right.  
  
Seeing she wouldn't get to check on Danny's head she sighed and sat again next to Martin on the conference table. It seemed Danny wasn't going to take his hand off of his head anytime soon. "Are you feeling all right?"  
  
"For the last time, Sam, yes, I am feeling perfectly fine. My head is just throbbing."  
  
"Fine, I'm not gonna ask again," she said raising her hands and focusing again on the food in front of her. Right now the food was a bit more important than Danny's bump in the head.  
  
"I think you should go see a doctor anyway," Viv spoke, looking carefully and worried at Danny.  
  
"I said I'm fine. No need to see a doctor. It's just a bump."  
  
Right then an irritating sound they all knew came from the computer and Sam was the first to turn and check what she already knew. "There's a match," she said getting up and going over the computer to check who had matched. "You're not going to believe this." She turned back to them with a witty smile on her face, everyone already gathered around her. "Valerie Melbourne."  
  
"There's a address here, but it's not of her house," Viv said pointing at the screen right over where the address shone.  
  
"Let's go everybody," Jack said with his boss tone and everyone started to get ready to go.  
  
Sam put her heavy coat on and checked her gun and ID. Those little two things always made her feel safer. Strange thing. Of course a gun would make you safer, that's what gave them control the most. Unconsciously she looked back as she started to walk, just to check if Martin was behind her and as it should be, there he was, all ready. He met her eyes and winked flirtatiously at her, which brought a small smile over her lips.  
  
Now they had to go get this Valerie Melbourne and find Michelle Laverne, the missing young girl.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Coffee?" Martin offered to Sam when she entered the break room, since he was already filling a cup to himself.  
  
"Oh, yes, please." She smiled up at him and leaned with her back on the counter, resting it slightly there as she crossed her arms and watched Martin.  
  
He handed her a cup and took a sip from his own, but as soon as the liquid had touched his lips, he spilled it back in the cup and quickly took her cup from her hand.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"It's the worst coffee I ever drank. Don't touch it." He put both cups on the counter and moved around to find what he needed to make a new one. "Who did it anyway?"  
  
"Hum, Danny I guess." Sam shrugged and chuckled at the same time as Martin shot her a quizzical look.  
  
"You're kidding?" He chuckled to himself went back to make the new coffee. He put the filter in the coffee maker after throwing the old one in the garbage, then put hot water and the coffee powder. He turned on the machine and it started buzzing silently in the small room, its noise was the only one in the room.  
  
"What should we do while we wait it till it's done?" Sam asked out of nowhere after a few moments of silence.  
  
Martin, who was tapping his fingers on the counter, trying lamely to reproduce a song it seemed only he knew, stopped and looked expectantly at her.  
  
She giggled softly and stepped closer to him, her hands went to the back of his neck. They softly wrap themselves around it, sending him chills as her fingers touched the back of his neck. She looked at him, smiling brightly, as thoughts ran crazily in her head.  
  
Martin leaned in, feeling her breath against his skin, their lips almost touching, "We shouldn't do this here, you know that."  
  
"I know," she whispered in his ear and planted a butterfly kiss on his ear lobe then brought her eyes to his. "But since when you started respecting rules?"  
  
"I didn't," he whispered back and let their lips touch.  
  
When they pulled apart she glanced up and tried to restrain that smile that threatened to break across her face. His lips looked so tantalizingly soft and she had to stop herself from touching his lips with hers all during the day, which was really hard.  
  
She pressed her lips on his again, harder this time, slowly parting her lips, inviting him in. Her hold on his neck tightened and Martin's arm went around her waist to pull her closer, even it being visually or humanly impossible. And they kissed. They kissed and kissed and kissed. The noise of the coffee maker telling them the coffee was ready went unnoticed. And they kissed again, and again and again, until a hard and embarrassed cough stopped them from sucking each other lives and stopped Sam's hand to go even lower than it should.  
  
They pulled apart, well, jumped away from each other just to see Danny standing on the doorway with his arms crossed, cheeks red of embarrassment and an amused smile on his lips. Not really a good combination.  
  
"Oh, hum, Danny, we're just . . ." Sam tried to take herself off the hook, her lips swollen like hell and cheeks much more red than Danny's. She was twisting her hands nervously, not sure of what to do with them. Funny, because five seconds ago she was pretty sure of it.  
  
"Yeah . . ." Martin agreed, though not really sure with what since she had said nothing really.   
  
"I'm pretty sure of it," Danny said entering the room and heading to the coffee maker. He put a cup of the just made coffee to himself and went to the other side of the room to lean against the counter so he could look at both Martin and Sam. "So?"  
  
"So . . . I have paperwork to do." Sam quickly dismissed herself and before they could even blink she was out of the room leaving poor Martin to deal alone with Danny, who, of course, looked expectantly at him.  
  
"She must be the hell of a kisser."  
  
"Oh my," Martin mumbled and walked out of the break room.  
  
"Where are you going?" Danny yelled after him. "You have an explanation to give me! Martin!" His name came out more like a deep chuckle than the yell Danny wanted to give. He put his cup of coffee on the counter and walked out of the room too, laughing like he had just remembered some joke a friend had told him long before.  
  
This was too damn good. He would have blackmail and a reason to mock Martin for the rest of his existence.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Once again, Sam was sitting on her desk, loads of paper around it, just waiting to be filled in and dismissed. She hated that part of the job. Every time they closed a case there were tons of paperwork to do and time was what they have the less amount of.  
  
She cursed herself for forgetting that coffee; that was the reason she had gone to the break room. But of course she couldn't go back there. Knowing Danny he would probably be lurking around, just waiting a good time to show up and start the endless interview. It was her fault anyway. She was the one who started that little lip lock scene not caring if someone could walk inside the room and catch the both of them almost undressing each other.  
  
What else could she do? All day she kept looking at Martin, staring at him, having not so innocent thoughts and all she could think of was to try to steal a kiss while they were alone. Good thing it hadn't been Jack who caught them otherwise she knew a long and boring conversation would happen for both Martin and herself. They didn't need any more problems.  
  
She looked down at the paper she was writing on and sighed again. This really sucked. And she still had all the paperwork of the other day, when they should have actually done paperwork but ended up doing . . . hum, well, more fun things.  
  
Damn, she shouldn't have thought that because now she would think about all that they did and want to go home with Martin. God, he was so wonderful she still couldn't really believe; she still was caught surprised, amused, stunned. She thought about him every waking moment that day, all the while she was looking around to see if Martin was there, if he was near enough so if she wanted she would be able to walk to him and smell his scent for one or two seconds or 'accidentally' touch him.  
  
She would never get tired of the butterflies he gave her, of the lovingly looks or sweet smiles he shot in her direction. She was completely drawn to him, he felt so good. His touch, his scent, his warmth, even his breathe, every thing about him was wonderful. She didn't know how she didn't see it before, that she would feel something like that for him.  
  
Since from the beginning she felt somewhat attracted to him, she felt a tiny tingle in her body, it was just that she was so involved with Jack that she didn't see it. She didn't believe it could be something. She had told Danny about his smile, she loved his smile, the way his mouth turned and how his eyes shone when he did that single gesture.  
  
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, rubbing her tired eyes, as images came running through her head. Her feelings were growing and becoming stronger and suddenly she knew she'd never feel as strongly for another person as she did then and there was nothing she could do about, not that she really cared anyway. She wanted these feelings to be with her for the rest of her life and never change.  
  
"Busy?"  
  
She jumped out of her chair startled by his sweet voice. "For the love of God, Martin! You scared the shit out of me," she said out of breath, one hand going to her pulsating heart through her chest trying to calm her nerves.  
  
"Sorry." He chuckled slightly amused.  
  
She waved a hand in front of her. "Yeah, yeah. That's all right."  
  
"Do you want to do something tonight?" he asked with a flirtatious tone that was too obvious just for the fact she should notice it.  
  
She looked up, a smiled already formed on her lips. "Sorry buddy." She waved one hand around her to point all the papers. "Half of it should be already done, but since our last," She tried a lame attempt to mimic his voice, ". . . 'Should we do something tonight?' turned out to be something completely different from what I had planed at first I need to stay until late to finish at least some of it."  
  
"I didn't hear you complaining."  
  
"No I didn't," she said with a sexy voice, flirtatious look a smile on her face that made him melt. "Don't you have paperwork too?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah," he said with a puff of air, visibly bored only by the thought of doing his paperwork.  
  
"So . . . I think you should start doing it."  
  
"Yeah. I should."  
  
Sam went back to her papers, trying to work again, but Martin scent was still there, letting her know he was still there. She looked up again to see Martin with both hands inside his coat pockets still staring at her. "What?"  
  
"What what? Can't I stare at you?" he said trying to fake shock, putting one hand over his heart as if he was hurt.  
  
She chuckled more to herself and threw a paper ball at him. "I can't work with you staring at me. Why don't you go do your stuff?"  
  
He chuckled too. "All right," he said a bit disappointed he wouldn't see her until the next day. "I'm leaving." He stopped as he passed by her to put a quick kiss on her head. "Bye."  
  
"Bye." She turned on her chair to watch him walk away but half way to the elevator he stopped and turned back.  
  
"Hey Sam?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thursday, me and you, seven o'clock?"  
  
"That'd be lovely."  
  
"Great." He smiled and turned to go again, this time without looking back or making out an excuse to do so.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
End of chapter six. My God... it's really bad... I don't know what's wrong with me. These damn chapters are not coming out the way I want them to pout... Anyway, review and tell how much I suck. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine.   
  
Author's note: I'm so so sorry for the delay! I had a major wirter's block and my muse wasn't cooperating at all.   
  
Lia, thanks for beta reading! You rock!  
  
Read and review.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"So, what exactly are we doing?" Sam asked, coming back to the TV room with a can of Pepsi in her hand.   
  
"We're bowling."   
  
Half away drinking the content from her can, she gasped and almost choked. She finished gulping it and gave him a puzzled look. "Are you serious?"   
  
"Yeah, of course."   
  
"Then, let's go." She jumped from the couch and stretched a hand out to him, which he gladly accepted and let her pull him up. They walked to the door, stopping to get their coats and car keys.   
  
As if Sam had just heard a dirty joke during religion class, she started chuckling, out of nowhere. The sound muffled by her lame attempts to keep it to herself, what was more than enough to catch Martin's attention.  
  
"What?"   
  
"Nothing." She tried to sound serious though she was still chuckling and still trying to restrain it.   
  
"You can't chuckle for no reason and keep me out of it."   
  
She looked at him, seeing the curiosity in his eyes. Poor Martin, he'd never know what hit him. "I'm going to seriously kick your ass." She finally said, this time she busted up laughing and kept walking, leaving a stunned Martin behind. But even stunned he didn't let the chance to check out her back - or her ass to be more precise - pass.   
  
Snapping out of his frozen state he hurried his pace to catch up with her. "I'm pretty good, you know."   
  
She glanced at him, tilting her head slightly to the side, a flirtatious gleam in her eyes. "I can tell." She whispered and smiled just as flirtatiously.   
  
He shook his head and couldn't help a smile to break across his face. "I'm talking about bowling."   
  
"And who said I wasn't?"   
  
~~~~*~~~~  
  
"So, umm, when exactly did you learn to bowl?" Martin asked somewhat embarrassed that Sam had hurt his male ego after three strikes in a row.   
  
She sat and took her can of coke to take a sip, then leaned back and watched as Martin chose the right ball. "My girlfriends and I used to hang around to bowl on Saturdays. I never went with them to exactly 'bowl'. It was more because of the cute boy who walked around to help with anything when someone was having problems."   
  
Martin lifted a ball to check the weight of it and turned to look at Sam as a small chuckle left his mouth. "And you were always having problems."   
  
"But of course." She chuckled too. "Specially with how to throw a ball."   
  
He chuckled again shaking his head at the absurdity of her teenage intelligence, not that he had ever done something like that when he was a teen. "Wish me luck." He said, just before turning to throw the ball.   
  
"What you really need, buddy, is to learn how to bowl."   
  
Martin stopped; his hand froze in the middle of throwing the ball, almost falling over his feet, wondering if she had actually said that. He turned to her, a look of shock and surprise on his face. "What did you just say?"   
  
His voice sounded so hurt, what provoked a fit of laughter from Sam due to her knowing that at least half of the 'hurt' was totally faked. "Big egos, like yours, are not sexy." She was standing now, hands on hips, in a posture that was almost daring him to argue with her.  
  
As if getting her unspoken message, he turned to play again. "Not sexy my ass." He muttered, seriously thinking no one besides him could hear and this got more laughs from Sam.  
  
"Your ass is sexy, indeed."   
  
"I'm trying to play here." He sounded so obviously embarrassed that Sam had to laugh more.  
  
"You're just too cute for your own damn good."   
  
"Seriously, you need to shut up now."   
  
She bit her lip, trying to restrain the burst of laughter, almost causing her lip bleed. "I swear to God I'm really trying." She managed to choke out between her laughs. When Martin threw the ball, it ended up running half the way through the corner instead of running down the aisle like it should, Sam started to laugh louder.  
  
"Ok! That's it!" He threw his hands up in frustration, then walked over to her with both hands on his hips and watched as she laughed on and on. "It's humanly impossible someone laugh this much." He said, not that he really cared, he was actually amused by the sound of her laughter, the way she found in a simple and stupid situation a reason for so much happiness.   
  
She walked to him standing face to face, still laughing and with one hand on her belly, but due to her attempts to stop it, slowly the sounds became lower and lower until she was just chuckling. She looked up at him, his smile almost ear to ear, staring intensely at her. "I'd kiss you." She said between deep breaths. "But I'm with..." more hard breath. "Seriously lack of air..." One more hard breathe "... Right now."   
  
Martin slowly sneaked his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to him and Samantha rested both her hands on his chest, her eyes meeting his. Suddenly the lack of air turned to be insignificant as she stared deeply into his eyes. The butterflies he gave her came rushing in her belly, she felt chills ran down her body from where Martin's hands were. She couldn't take her eyes off him anymore.  
  
"The lack of air is gone." She whispered, her fingers wrapping around his collar and slowly pulled him to her.   
  
"That's good." He whispered back, they were so close that his breath was warm and right on her lips.  
  
She nodded just before their lips touched. She closed her eyes as the feeling of having his soft lips over again made her shake with desire; she felt as if her body was melting as Martin's lips gently touched hers and brought her arms around his neck to hold onto him quite unsure if her legs would give away.   
  
She leaned into his body, wrapping her arms tightly around him, feeling his arms around her as he slid them from her hips to her waist. She kissed him, tasting his lips as delicately as if she were savoring a new taste. Her arms left their place around his neck to run down his arms and she found herself tracing the muscles of his arms and over his clothed body, murmuring into his mouth.   
  
"Mm?" Martin whispered out, even with her lips locked with his.   
  
"...Mm, love you." She whispered onto his mouth just before kissing him again.   
  
Some time later, when their lungs started to ask for that little, but important, thing called air, they were forced to pull their lips away, letting them apart to allow some breathing room. She rested her forehead on his, her hands on his shoulders, steadying herself as his hands were back to her hips, caressing softly there.   
  
"I don't want to bowl anymore." He whispered.   
  
"Me neither." She whispered back and pulled away from him to look in his eyes. She let a sweet smile break across her face as one hand descended from his shoulder to entwine their hands and pulled him with her as she walked towards the exit. "I have something much better in my head." She said casting a quick glance at him, but enough to see his smile, which pretty much said 'a bed and a dark room'.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"So, Martin how was your... day?" Danny wittily asked, changing the last word, which formerly was 'night' to seem less... pornographic. As soon as he saw Martin walking to his desk, Danny stopped doing whatever he was doing to go bug Martin a little. He really needed to know what was going on between him and Samantha.   
  
"What do you mean?" Martin asked, without even bothering to look at Danny.   
  
Danny chuckled amused at how Martin seemed not to care, or tried to, because after that little scene in the break room he shouldn't be shy about anything. "Come on!" He laughed this time and put the cup of coffee he was holding on Martin's desk. "The way you two were kissing, it seemed you were ready to have a quickie right there."   
  
"I wasn't!"   
  
"You think so just because you weren't the one who saw what I did."   
  
"She just... kissed me." Yeah, really good, Martin, blaming Sam would be a smart way of making Danny stop annoying him.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty aware of it." He chuckled again. "How long have you two been together?"   
  
"For a while." Martin answered evasively, still not looking at him.   
  
"So, is she good?"   
  
"Danny, for God's sake...." Martin started but for the lack of good words to say, he just trailed off.   
  
"Come on, tell me." Danny bent down to stay closer to Martin so only he could hear his friend's words. "Is she good?"   
  
Martin leaned closer too, making a mysterious face and wearing a proud smile. Face to face now, Martin whispered slowly, "You'll never now."   
  
The expectant expression on Danny's face faded away to be replaced by one of disappointment and then, amazement. "Oh my God, she must be a fire in bed."   
  
"I told you, you'll never know." Martin said again, though louder this time, focusing again, well, whatever he was doing before being interrupted by Danny.   
  
"Speaking of her, where is she anyway?"   
  
Martin looking around, searching for any kind of gold light, but found none, deducing she hadn't arrived yet. "I don't know." He said and got up turning to the break room to go get some coffee. With a witty smile on his face, he looked at Danny. "Maybe she was too tired to get up early."   
  
"Now you're flattering yourself, Martin." Danny called after him as Martin walked away. He started chuckling to himself, grabbed his cup of coffee and walked towards the break room, but on the way, he saw Sam getting out of the elevator. "Now that's too good." He whispered to himself and changed direction.   
  
Sam opened her heavy coat to take it off as she walked to her desk, but stopped and sighed when she saw Danny walking to her. 'Just what I need' she thought sighing again.  
  
"Hello you." He said with a somewhat flirtatious voice. "Coffee?" He nicely asked, lifting his cup.   
  
"No, thanks." She said and finished taking her coat off. She walked to her desk with the coat hanging on her arm with Danny following behind.   
  
"You seem overly happy today. Any particular reason you'd like to share?"   
  
"Not really." She replayed shortly without looking at him. As she finally got to her desk, with Danny still on her heels, she put her coat on the chair and almost imperceptibly she whirled to look around for Martin. "So... humm, is Martin here yet?" She asked not looking at Danny, a hand rubbing one eye trying not to seem too interested.  
  
He laughed at her ridiculous attempt to be nonchalant and pointed at the general direction of the break room. "He's getting coffee."   
  
"I think I'm going to get some, too." And then she started walking again, with Danny behind. It may have been just a few hours they were apart, but to her, Sam felt as if she hadn't seen him for a long time and all she wanted was to be near him again and see his handsome face.  
  
"I just asked if you wanted and you said..."   
  
"I changed my mind." She cut him off.  
  
Danny hurried his pace to catch up with her and they walked side by side. "Should I stay with you so you won't repeat that lovely scene?"   
  
She quickly glanced up at him, working really hard to keep herself from smiling. "Kiss my ass." She whispered right in the middle of a chuckle.   
  
"Gladly." Danny chuckled too and finally stopped following her. Well, he had some sense to give them some privacy, after all. Even if he was dying to peek and she what those would do.  
  
Sam knocked softly on the threshold, though she didn't need to, just to make herself known and a happy smile broke across her face when Martin turned his head to the soft sound of her voice. "Hey."   
  
"Hey." He gave her his own happy smile in return. "Coffee?"   
  
"Please." She walked inside stopping in front of him to give Martin a quick good morning kiss on the lips, but with an inch of distance between them she stopped. "Is Danny behind me?"  
  
Martin chuckled peeking over her head to check. "No." He said and leaned in the inch between them to kiss her. "Here." He handed her the coffee and rested his back on the counter. "You did see him then..."   
  
"Yeah. Did you go through the same interrogation?"   
  
"Worse. He started asking personal questions."   
  
Sam shook head, trying really hard to restrain the smile that was threatening to break across her face again. She loved Danny as a brother and he was a good friend to her and to Martin, but Danny could be really annoying sometimes. He cared a great deal about Sam, she knew that and that's why he always annoyed her, he did that for the same reason a brother would do to his sister.   
  
Martin shook his head, chuckling himself and took a sip of his coffee. "That's just Danny. There's nothing we can do about it."   
  
"Yup, nothing." She echoed and looked up, smiling at him. "Have a told you I love you lately?"   
  
He widened his eyes as if she had remembered him of something really horrid and let his mouth fall open. "No." He said with as much fake disbelief as he could.   
  
"I love you." She said just before kissing him softly on the lips.  
  
"Me too."   
  
"We should get out of here before Danny comes."   
  
"I know." He said but didn't move an inch from where he was.  
  
"You're not moving."   
  
With an unpleasant groan Martin put his mug down over the table and both walked out of there. 


End file.
